British tourist Danny Maggs has been pictured smiling and doing a “hang loose” sign as he was loaded into a medical helicopter after suffering a shark attack off Whitsunday Island on Tuesday.
Maggs, 22, had been snorkelling at Hook Passage, about 11 kilometres from Cid Harbour on Whitsunday Island, at 10:20am when he was bitten along with his friend, Alistair Raddon, 28.
Maggs suffered an injury to his calf, while Raddon had his foot bitten off in the attack.
Yet despite the horrific injuries medics said the pair were in good spirits on board the helicopter as they travelled to hospital.
They were reportedly joking about England’s victory over Australia in the Rugby World Cup while on board. Maggs has since shared a picture of himself and posted a screengrab of a story about the attack on Instagram.
Danny Maggs’ mother Rachel, who is on holiday in Malta, told Daily Mail the family were in shock over the news.
“We’re in shock and we’re thousands of miles away so can’t do much at the moment,” she said. “We are hoping for the best.”
“It sounds as though the young man with Danny has come off worst but we don’t know the full extent of Danny’s injuries yet. We are hoping both of them will be ok.”
His grandmother, Jean Anning said her daughter was in a “state of shock” over her son’s injuries.
“He’s waiting to see how bad the injury is to his calf and if there is any sort of damage to any tendons,”
“We are all hoping that he makes a full recovery as it sounds like a nasty attack and I’m just thankful it wasn’t a lot worse,” she said.
Meanwhile, a Taiwanese tourist has described the terrifying moment two British men were attacked in front of her.
Twenty-two-year-old exchange student, Chien Wang, was on-board the ZigZag Whitsundays boat tour to Whitehaven Beach when she heard one of the men shout “shark, shark” from the water.
“At first I found it not really serious. Then he kept shouting. Everyone seemed to be scared,” Ms Wang told the Whitsunday Times.
She said she could see blood in the water as staff rushed to help the men, and about 10 people had still been swimming at the time.
“I didn’t think there would be any sharks in that area,” she said.
There were 20 people on board the tour boat but it remains unclear how many were in the water at the time, or what type of shark attacked.
Queensland Ambulance Service Mackay manager of operations Tracey Eastwick said the two men were administered first aid by two international paramedics who just happened to be on-board the boat.
“They’ve applied tourniquets to both patients and continued treatment into Coral Sea Marina,” she said.
Mr Raddon and Mr Maggs were then taken back to shore, where they were met by ambulance workers and eventually flown to hospital in Mackay.
“We are saddened to confirm that two of our guests were injured in a shark attack this morning,” ZigZag Whitsunday wrote on Facebook.
“Our thoughts are with them, their families and the other guests on the tour … We are working with authorities to assist in any way we can.”
It is understood the two men were wrestling and thrashing about in the water when they were attacked by the shark.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the two men, who are now in a stable condition, would get the “best care possible”.
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