A 46-year-old tourist has miraculously survived a horrific shark bite after she was bitten while on holidays, but is still fighting for life.
Justine Barwick, from Tasmania, was swimming near a yacht in Queensland’s exotic Whitsundays Islands on Wednesday night, when she was attacked by the shark.
A passing yacht found the woman with life-threatening bites to her right thigh, and helped her out of the water.
Justine Barwick, from Tasmania, was swimming near a yacht in Queensland’s exotic Whitsundays Islands on Wednesday night, when she was attacked by the shark
Dr John Hadok’s (pictured) actions saved Ms Barwick’s life, as he was coincidentally on a nearby boat
By coincidence, one of her rescuers was an emergency department doctor, whose actions saved her life.
Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, CEO for Family Based Care North West Doug Doherty confirmed it was his colleague who was the victim.
He said she had been holidaying with her husband and friends for less than two weeks when the incident happened.
‘Obviously, her and family and colleagues are concerned for her welfare,’ he said.
The bite left Ms Barwick with a significant gash in her right upper thigh, local paramedics told The Mercury.
By the time she was pulled from the water, she was rapidly losing blood.
Local paramedics say Dr John Hadok, who is an emergency department doctor at the Mackay Base Hospital, could have saved the woman’s life.
Dr Hadok was coincidentally on a nearby boat when the incident happened, and administered emergency first aid.
He managed to stem the blood flow long enough to allow a rescue helicopter to arrive with Ms Barwick still breathing.
Queensland Ambulance Service Mackay manager of operations Tracey Eastwick told ABC she was very fortunate to have a doctor on the scene.
‘He was able to assist with immediate treatment of the patient and to stabilise the serious haemorrhage that she had.’
Ms Barwick was airlifted to hospital with a ‘life-threatening’ injury to her thigh after being attacked by a shark in the Whitsunday Islands
A nearby doctor managed to stem her blood loss with what little resources he had long enough for the rescue helicopter to arrive
A RACQ Rescue Helicopter spokeswoman said that if it wasn’t for the people who found her and packed her wounds, the woman would be dead.
‘By all accounts it was very serious and without the rescue helicopter she probably would have died, but those people did save her life by stopping the haemorrhaging,’ she said.
The rescue helicopter, which Mr Doherty says was already in the air when the attack happened, took her to Mackay Base Hospital.
Mr Doherty said a late-night emergency surgery saved her life, and has left her in a critical condition as of Thursday morning.
The Whitsunday Islands is popular swimming destinations in Queensland, (pictured here Sawmill Bay) particularly with tourists
The type of shark that attacked Ms Barwick is unknown.
The Whitsunday Islands are popular swimming destinations in Queensland, particularly with tourists who flock in droves during the warmer months.
While parts of the area has shark nets in place, they don’t necessarily provide an impenetrable barrier between swimmers and sharks.
They do, however, reduce the overall number of sharks in the area, making it a safer place to swim.
There hasn’t been a fatal shark attack in Queensland since 2014 when 18-year-old Daniel Smith was attacked by a tiger shark near Rudder Reef near Port Douglas.
He suffered a bite to the upper thigh and died within minutes of being pulled from the water.
In January 2006, 21-year-old Sarah Whiley was mauled by a trio of bull sharks, who attacked her in waist-deep water at Amity Point, north Stadbroke Island.
Ms Whiley lost both her arms in the attack and later died from massive blood loss.
In 2017, a father-of-two from Cairns lost his right leg and almost died when he was mauled by a shark while spearfishing off Hinchinbrook Island.