Miracle survival as marlin spears men
A FLYING marlin stabbed him in the shoulder and almost killed his brother but Nathan Peck thinks it is one hell of a story.
Peck, his brother Quentin and their mate Andrew Sprott were travelling at about 40km/h on a 6m inflatable boat 20 miles off the New South Wales coast at Wooli on Thursday when the marlin struck.
“The marlin jumped straight over the boat and like a bowling ball just took us out,” Nathan told News Corp.
“We barely even saw the fish coming; it was about 100kg and probably collided with us going 40km/h the other way.
“I was driving, the bill went through my shoulder, when it got to my brother it was sideways and he took the brunt of the 100kg fish.
“It ripped the tendon out of his hand, knocked him into the back of the boat and he smashed into the gang rack.
“I thought my brother was near dead.”
Nathan said he didn’t realise he had been speared by the fish’s bill.
“Fortunately because we had wet suits on, my brother didn’t lose a lot of blood,” he said.
“I actually didn’t realise it had gone through me but we both couldn’t breathe.
“It took me about 3-4 minutes to get my breath back but I thought it had nearly killed Quentin.”
Sprott, standing on the left side of the boat, was completely untouched by the flying fish.
He took over and drove the boat back to Wooli.
Quentin, suffering broken ribs, ripped tendon out of his hand and other injuries, was flown to Coffs Harbour and then again to Royal North Shore Hospital.
Surgeons operated on his hand yesterday morning.
“You will never ever hear another story one like it,” Nathan said.
“The fact we have both come out of it OK is incredible, it could have been so much worse.”
In September 2017, Gold Coast fisherman Damian Jackson said his “catlike reflexes” saved him from being speared in the head by a marlin.
That incident was different as Jackson was trying to catch the fish at the time. FUNGI that draws gold from its surroundings has been discovered in Western Australia, stunning scientists who say it could signal new deposits.
Found near Boddington south of Perth, the strain of the fusarium oxysporum fungus attaches gold to its strands by dissolving and precipitating particles from the environment.
There may be a biological advantage in doing so, as the gold-coated fungi were found to grow larger and spread faster than those that don’t interact with the precious metal.
The gold particles can only be seen with a microscope.
IT TOOK ME ABOUT 3-4 MINUTES TO GET MY BREATH BACK BUT I THOUGHT IT HAD NEARLY KILLED QUENTIN
NATHAN PECK