Toby Begg, 44, is in a critical but stable condition in John Hunter Hospital following a second surgery after he sustained significant leg injuries during the “sustained and prolonged” attack at Watonga Rocks on Lighthouse Beach in Port Macquarie.
It is believed he tried to fight off the four-metre shark for 30 seconds while surfing about 10am yesterday.
An off-duty emergency department doctor was on the beach and helped to stop the bleeding from what were described as “serious injuries from his hip to his calf and lower legs” until paramedics arrived.
He touched down at John Hunter Hospital yesterday evening, after being airlifted by the Westpac Rescue Helicopter.
Witnesses and experts believe it was a 3.8-to-4.2-metre great white shark but the Department of Primary Industries and Surf Life Saving NSW crews haven’t been able to find it after searching waters yesterday.
Bite marks on Begg’s fibreglass surfboard show the power of the shark’s jaws during the attack.
Beaches have remained closed this morning.
Begg is a local and well-known father in the Port Macquarie community.
Yesterday, Chief Inspector Martin Burke from NSW Police said the luck of having an emergency doctor on-scene would be a key part of Begg’s survival.
“The reports are that a man has tried to fight this shark for 30 seconds and has then swum himself to shore where he has realised he has sustained significant lower leg injuries,” he said.
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Burke said he had spoken to some members of the surfing community, who all understood they were “in nature’s playground” when they were in the ocean.
Inspector Joshua Smyth from NSW Ambulance said Begg sustained significant trauma and blood loss.
“The bystanders obviously did a remarkable job on the patient initially and to initially arrest that hemorrhage and call triple zero,” Smyth said.
A teenage witness told 9News it was “really scary”.
“I have never seen anything like it,” the girl told NBN.
“His foot ripped off and basically he was bleeding everywhere.
“They were trying to talk to him, he was silent, he was frozen.”
A search to find the shark will continue.
