Backpackers save shark bite man

Tuesday, December 19, 2006 British backpackers helped a surfer after he was attacked by a shark off Australia's famous Bells Beach.

The 25-year-old surfer was out at dusk and had his left leg mauled before he managed to reach shore.



Peter Galvin was surfing a shallow reef called Winki Pop, just near the Bells surf break on Australia's south coast, when the shark attacked him from below, authorities said.

"The victim was sitting on his board with his legs dangling over the side and the shark has come up from underneath and grabbed his left leg in the calf and thigh area," senior police constable Lisa Kearney told local media.

Galvin received puncture wounds to the top of his calf and a major gash under his knee and, after being treated by fellow surfers and the unknown English banckpackers on the beach.

He was flown to hospital in Melbourne where he was in a serious but stable condition.

Just over two weeks ago another surfer had his leg bitten off by a shark off a remote beach in Western Australia.

The latest attack in the southern state of Victoria has again sparked debate on whether to kill the attacking shark.

Sharks, even Great Whites, are a protected in Australia.

Australia's peak surfing body wants the shark hunted down to stop it attacking again at the popular Bells surf break, which hosts a professional surfing contest each year.

"It is not a nice thing (to hunt down the shark), but I don't think any surfer wants it hanging around," said Steve Robertson from Surfing Australia.

But Victoria's state premier, Steve Bracks, ruled out hunting the shark. "The reality is that shark could be anywhere. There could be new sharks in the area," Bracks told reporters.

"The reality is that this is obviously a random attack and a regrettable one," he said.