Woman lucky to be alive after fish jumping out of water slashes her neck

A woman out fishing with her husband has been seriously injured after being hit by a fish which jumped out of the water.

The 65-year-old woman suffered a serious neck injury late on Monday morning while the pair were in Darwin Harbour.

It is believed the fish which launched out of the water and hurt her was a trevally.

St John Ambulance NT said the woman was “very lucky” following the incident which “had the potential to be life-threatening“.

“A fish came out of the water and hit the woman in the chest,” a spokesperson for St John Ambulance said.

“She fell to the floor of the boat with a large laceration to the side of her neck, narrowly missing all major blood vessels.”

It is believed the fish’s fin caused the wound, according to News Corp.

Trevallies are identifiable by their forked tail fin and a ridge of plates on each side of the base of the tail.

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The woman’s husband rushed her to the Channel Island boat ramp following the frightening injury.

There the couple was met by police who helped to move the 65-year-old woman into an ambulance.

Paramedics from St John Ambulance transported her to the Royal Darwin Hospital.

The emergency services shared the story to their Facebook page on Tuesday morning, urging anglers to be prepared for accidents.

“Ring 000, use your first aid kit and administer first aid,” they wrote.

A spokesperson for Top End Health Service told Yahoo7 on Tuesday afternoon the injured woman remained in hospital in a stable condition.