A SPEARFISHING trip on the Great Barrier Reef ended in tragedy at the weekend when a 38-year-old man suffered fatal injuries as he was attacked by a shark about 60 yards from where his group’s boat was anchored.

The man, who has not been named, had extensive injuries to his left leg, including a severed artery, and could not be saved by paramedics.

He was pulled screaming from the water by two friends who were spearfishing near by, but he died soon afterwards.

The attack happened on Opal Reef, about 50 miles off Cairns on the east coast of Australia. It was the fifth fatal shark attack reported around the world this year and the seventh in Australian waters since 2000.

Steve Akers, a spokesman for the local rescue service, said: “They heard him scream, they went over to him and obviously there was blood in the water and that is all they saw. Then they dragged him on to the vessel and proceeded to stem the bleeding but obviously it didn’t work.”

A police spokesman said: “He suffered extensive injuries to his left leg, including a severed artery, and could not be saved.”

Leon Oliver, an ambulance officer, said that the victim had suffered a very deep laceration, rupturing major blood vessels. “On arrival back at the boat, the man unfortunately was in cardiac arrest and we were unable to do anything more for him.”

It was not immediately known which species of shark was involved, but marine biologists suggested that it may have been a bull shark or black whaler. Richard Fitzpatrick, a shark researcher, said that the type would be established only after studying the bite marks on the victim.

“He has been pushed out of the water. The shark has come in at high speed and has pushed him up. There are a few different species capable of doing that up in the reef,” he said.

Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is a popular tourist area which attracts thousands of holidaymakers every year, many of them from overseas. While shark attacks are a comparatively rare occurrence within the reef, they pose a frequent threat around the rest of the Australian coastline.

Peter Beattie, the Premier of Queensland, admitted that he was worried about the impact of such tragedies on Australian tourism, but said that he was more concerned about the victim’s family. “No one wants to see these sort of tragedies happen, particularly to a young dad who’s only 38,” he said.

ATTACKS IN 2004

April 8: Willis McInnis, 57, killed while surfing off Maui in Hawaii’s first deadly shark attack in 12 years

July 11: Two sharks, one “as big as a car”, kill Bradley Smith, 29, a surfer, near Gracetown, Western Australia

November 15: Tyna Webb, 77, killed while swimming near Cape Town; rescue services describe shark as bigger than helicopter

November 23: Four swimmers confronted by shark off New Zealand; saved by dolphins, who circled them in tight defensive formation

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