Aussie man's terrifying 2.5km struggle after 'falling into shark's mouth'
The Perth dad had more than 20 puncture wounds from the shark bite after falling off his board on Christmas Eve.
WARNING - GRAPHIC CONTENT: An Aussie father has shared the terrifying moment he fell off his board and "straight into" the mouth of a shark, leaving him with more than 20 puncture wounds on his foot and ankle.
Troy Brown, 46, was wing foiling — a water sport similar to kitesurfing where the sailor, standing on a board, holds directly onto a wing — off Wedge Island, Western Australia on Christmas Eve when he fell into the water, immediately feeling pain in his ankle.
Thinking he had kicked it on the foil at first, Brown soon realised the pain was coming from both sides of the ankle, and after bringing his foot to the surface he noticed the extent of his injuries. He was then forced to travel 2.5 kilometres to shore for help.
"I was watching the blood run out all over the deck of the board," he told 9News, sharing the moment he realised it was a shark bite. "I [had fallen] straight into its mouth."
Shark victim travels back to shore with foot injuries
The incident occurred around 3pm (6pm AEDT) while Brown was about 2.5 kilometres away from shore. "I realised, 'all right, I have to get back'," he said.
The shark, believed to be a bronze whaler, was nowhere to be seen by the stage so Brown raced back to shore and hauled himself up the sand and to the shack he and his family were staying in.
"I walked on my tip toes because there was a lot of soft sand so tried to keep my injuries out of the sand."
Brown's wife and children were then able to get him the medical assistance needed and he eventually underwent surgery — including over 40 stitches — at Joondalup Health Campus, where he is recovering in a moon boot.
"Look I was unlucky but I was also probably very lucky to get away with what I did, with the injuries I did," he said.
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Not the only shark bite over Christmas
A teenage surfer was also bitten by a shark at about 4.30pm on Christmas day at a NSW beach while surfing at Old Bar on the Mid-North Coast.
Julian McLennan, 16, told 9News he was sitting on his board when he felt "someone grab" him. "I look to the right and I see a massive fin coming out of the water and, like, it's the body of a shark.
"I start paddling in. I have no clue if I have a leg still and I'm just looking at Alex, and I'm just freakin out," he said.
McLennan yelled out to his mate Alex Tobin, who was also in the water but closer to the beach, that he had been bitten by a shark.
"I just seen a giant splash came out of nowhere (sic)," Tobin told 9News. "I ran to shore, grabbed my shirt so he can wrap it around his leg to stop the bleeding."
Friend Will Anderson, who had been surfing with them but decided to get out earlier, drove them all to the hospital, deciding not to wait for an ambulance.
"[I] thought the ambulance would have taken too long to get out there and, not knowing how bad the bite actually was, I just wanted to be on the safer side and get moving as quick as we could," Anderson said.
The bite was almost deadly as it was just a few centimetres from Julian's femoral artery. He said he was lucky that his board took most of the force of the bite.
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