Surfer loses most of thigh in shark attack

sydney — A surfer was recovering Thursday after reportedly having most of his thigh bitten off by a shark in Australia with the quick actions of beachgoers helping save his life.

Brett Connellan, 22, was in the water at Bombo Beach, south of Sydney, on Wednesday evening when the shark attacked.

“Our son Brett suffered a very serious injury last night, he’s in a serious but stable condition,” his father Malcolm said in a short statement.

The Sydney Morning Herald said the man had three-quarters of his thigh ripped off, as well as hand injuries as he fought the shark, with his screams alerting fellow surfers and bystanders.

He was helped ashore by friend Joel Trist with two off-duty nurses on the beach using a surfboard leg rope as a tourniquet around his bloody thigh credited with helping to save his life. Fellow surfer Trist said he was 50 metres (yards) away when he heard a “terrible scream” and saw the shark thrashing violently in the water.

“I saw the shark thrashing around at that stage but I couldn’t comprehend at that time what was happening and again, just acting on instinct, I thought, well, what else could it be at that moment?,” he told reporters.

“I guess the adrenaline kicked in and I paddled as hard as I could towards him. Luckily by that stage the shark had gone away from where he was.

“I paddled up to him, and obviously I knew what had happened, and I said to him: ‘What’s it like?’ And he said: ‘It’s not good.’ And at that point, I knew something was horribly wrong.” —