‘You’ve got three minutes to save my life’: Hero spearfisherman who saved a young dad from a shark attack opens up about moment a frenzied four-metre maneater mauled him in the middle of the ocean
- Rick Bettua was attacked by a bull shark while spearfishing at Britomart ReefÂ
- The 59-year-old opened up on his rescue and thanked those who saved himÂ
- Mr Bettua previously saved Glenn Dickson after a shark attack in the area in 2017
A spearfisherman who saved a father from a shark attack has opened up on his own shark encounter after being savagely mauled on the Great Barrier Reef.
Rick Bettua was spearfishing on Britomart Reef off Hinchinbrook Island in Far North Queensland when he was attacked by a four-metre bull shark in October.
The 59-year-old was ambushed by the aggressive shark underwater and bitten on the upper thigh after trying to fend off the predator using his speargun.
Mr Bettua was left with catastrophic wounds and was unable to see his flippers through his blood as he swam to the surface.
Related Post
His diving partner Peter Kocika swam over and helped him back to the boat, before Mr Bettua opened up on his dire situation.
Rick Bettua (pictured) was attacked by a bull shark while spearfishing at Britomart Reef
‘You’ve got three minutes to save my life,’ he said, as reported by The Daily Telegraph.Â
Mr Bettua is a former US Navy diver with more than 50 years of diving experience and 32 years in the military.
He was on his last dive of the day with Mr Kocika when he was bitten by the shark.
Mr Kocika tied a tourniquet tightly around Mr Bettua’s leg to stop the bleeding and set off on the one-hour journey to Dungeness boat ramp.
He recalled Mr Bettua telling him to tell his wife Angela and two sons Troy and Derek that he loved them as he laid in excruciating pain at the back of the speeding boat.
Luckily for Mr Bettua, Dr Ben Reaves was fishing at Britomart Reef with friends Bastian Iezzi and Paul Lambert after the attack.
Mr Bettua (pictured in 2018) was spearfishing with friend Peter Kocica when he was attacked
The attack occurred at Britomart Reef in a remote part of the Great Barrier Reef off of QueenslandÂ
When the speeding boat approached and they saw the situation, the group moved to Mr Lambert’s faster vessel to get Mr Bettua to shore.
Mr Bettua said he could feel himself slipping away as tried to focus on his breathing in anguish on the desperate mission back to the harbour.
‘Because I was bleeding out, every time I would move or roll over onto my back, it was as if an elephant was standing on my chest and I couldnât breathe,’ he said.
When the group arrived at Dungeness boat ramp Mr Bettua had no pulse.
He was revived by waiting paramedics at the scene before being flown to Townsville Hospital for emergency surgery.
Medical personnel were shocked at Mr Bettua’s good condition after he woke from an induced coma.Â
Paramedics met Mr Bettua at Dungeness boat ramp and revived him before he was taken to Townsville Hospital
Mr Bettua suffered nerve damage from the attack, leaving him unable to move his left foot and forced to wear a brace to keep his foot held up.
A skin graft from his back stretches across the back of his leg, while aggressive scars from the bull sharks jaws adorn the front.
Mr Bettua met with his rescuers this week and individually thanked each of them for playing a vital role in saving his life.
‘If any one of you didnât do what you did, then I wouldnât be here today,’ he said.Â
The shark encounter was not the first for Mr Bettua and Mr Kocika, with the pair famous for saving Queensland father Glenn Dickson when he was bitten by a shark at another remote reef in the area in 2017.
They dragged Mr Dickson to a boat and put a tourniquet around his bleeding leg, saving his life.
Mr Bettua met with his rescuers this week and individually thanked each of them for playing a vital role in saving his life
