Quick-thinking friends save shark attack victim in Australia

A 22-year-old surfer remains in a serious condition in hospital after a shark tore a large chunk of his thigh off while he was swimming off the coast of New South Wales. The quick-thinking actions of his friends have been credited with saving Brett Connellan’s life. “The first thing I saw was Brett getting thrashed around in the water and a terrible scream I guess, and acting on instinct I just paddled as hard as I could towards him,” Joel Trist said. "I was just pleading with him to stay with me. At that stage he was fading in and out of consciousness.“

He could’ve bled to death before we arrived on scene. He was very lucky the members of the public were there and acted as they did. They saved his life, to tell you the truth.

Paramedic Terry Morrow

Another friend, Angie, who is an intensive care nurse, also rushed to help. "I do deal with pretty critical patients on a daily basis, but we’re still scared by what we saw last night,” she said. "To be honest it’s 50 times harder when it’s one of your own.“ Mr Connellan’s friends tied a tourniquet around his leg, helping to stem the loss of blood. Paramedic Terry Morrow said: "He had lost a large proportion of his left thigh, and the quad muscle was torn away right down to the bone." The attack happened about 100 metres offshore from Bombo Beach, south of Sydney, just after 7pm on Wednesday. It is the latest in a series of serious shark attacks in Australia during the past year.

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