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How a spearfisherman had to fight for his life after being mauled by a tiger shark at a popular tourist beach before being brought back to shore in front of dozens of shocked witnesses
- Brett Highlands mauled by a suspected three-metre tiger shark in WA on Friday
- He had suffered bites to his arm and hand but swam back to his friend on a boat
- Walked to shore as paramedics rushed him to hospital; he is in a stable condition
A spearfisherman was forced to swim back to a boat to seek first aid from his friends after being badly mauled by a three-metre tiger shark while celebrating his birthday.
Brett Highlands, 48, was about 500m off Quandong Beach, north of Broome in north-western Western Australia, when he was bitten on his arm and hand about 11.15am on Friday.
He swam back to the boat where his horrified friends pulled him on board and wrapped a tourniquet around his arm.
Footage then showed Mr Highlands walking onto the shore at Cable Beach with the support of his mates before paramedics rushed him off to hospital – all in front of shocked beachgoers.
The 48-year-old was flown to Perth on Friday night and remains in a stable condition in hospital.
Brett Highlands, 48, had been swimming about 500m off Quandong Beach, north of Broome in north-western Western Australia, when he was bitten on his arm and hand around 11.15am on Friday
Authorities from the Department of Fisheries were patrolling the area after the attack and believe the species was a tiger shark, The West Australian reported.
Newlyweds Halley and Jacob Zurzulo saw the man being escorted back to shore in what they thought was an arrest.
‘It took us ages to figure out what was happening. It literally looked like someone was being arrested,’ Ms Zurzulo said on Facebook.
A police car sped across the sand in front of the Zurzolos, who were married six days earlier and were about to go for a swim before the scene unfolded in front of them.
Mr Highlands’ friends are understood to have called St John’s Ambulance from their boat and met them at Cable Beach half an hour after he was bitten.
‘He got brought down to Cable Beach from ages away by boat, and there was cops and detectives and rangers and paramedics,’ Mrs Zurzolo said.
Mr Highlands is seen being escorted to shore after the shark attack near Broome in WA on Friday
A witness told 6PR the victim seemed ‘pretty chill’ despite the near death experience.
‘There was probably every cop in Broome just racing down the beach with the lifeguards,’ he said.
The attack comes after a string of shark encounters across Australia in recent months.
Mr Highlands was rushed to the nearby Cable Beach (pictured) on Friday morning to be taken by paramedics to hospital. He remains in a stable condition
Charles Cernobori, 59, was killed by a shark at Cable Beach last year while bodyboarding about 30metres from shore.
A surfer in his 50s was fatally mauled by a 4.5m great white shark off Tuncurry Beach on the NSW mid-north coast on Tuesday morning.
He was desperately warning friends of the danger when he was attacked. It was the first death by a shark in Australian waters this year.
