Shark attack survivor Mel Ismail describes being winked at before losing his leg
Professional firefighter Mel Ismail spoke publicly for the first time about the September 14 attack at Glenfield Beach near Geraldton, Western Australia. Four days later, a 63-year-old swimmer was fatally mauled off Perth's northern suburbs.
The attack
Mel Ismail, a professional firefighter, was surfing at Glenfield Beach near Geraldton on Australia's west coast when he was attacked on September 14. He lost his right leg below the knee. In his first public account since the attack, given in an Australian Broadcasting Corp. interview broadcast on Thursday, Ismail said he was sitting out the back of the surf break when he spotted a pod of about 20 dolphins. He initially thought he had been hit by a dolphin, before something grabbed him and dragged him under.
- Ismail attacked while surfing at Glenfield Beach near Geraldton
- Greg O'Neill fatally mauled off Sorrento Beach, Perth
- Ismail's first public account broadcast in an ABC interview on Thursday
A wink before the bite
Ismail said he saw the shark's eye as it dragged him, and he believed the animal winked at him before it bit his leg. He tried to get his fingers into the eye and push it while being pulled down. Many sharks, including white sharks and mako sharks, do not have eyelids, and when attacking prey they roll their eyeballs backward into their sockets as a protective measure, exposing a tough layer of white cartilage. Authorities have yet to determine the species of shark that attacked Ismail.
I got to a point where I saw its eye... a big black eye.
Rescue on the beach
Alone and bleeding at the back of the surf break, Ismail caught a wave that carried him about 20 meters (66 feet) toward shore. He said he was out of breath and losing strength when he saw surfer Shannan Dunn coming down the dunes onto the beach. Dunn went to his rescue and helped him onto his board. Ismail said Dunn's first question was where the shark was, and he replied that he did not know and had a bit going on. After they reached the beach, an onlooker made a tourniquet from a leg rope while another phoned for an ambulance, and a pair of teenagers helped Ismail into Dunn's SUV for the drive to meet paramedics.
I had a heap of people laughing, keeping me alive, keeping me positive in the back.
Fatal attacks across Australia
Four days after Ismail was attacked, 63-year-old swimmer Greg O'Neill was fatally mauled by a large white shark off Sorrento Beach in Perth's northern suburbs, about 400 kilometers (250 miles) south of Geraldton. Associated Press counts five fatal shark attacks in Australia this year. Three spearfishing divers were killed by sharks in four weeks across May and June, and in January a 12-year-old boy died in hospital days after a bull shark mauled him in Sydney Harbor. Australia has averaged between two and three fatal shark attacks a year since 2000, according to the Australian Shark Incident Database. Ismail said he intends to return to the surf as a bodyboarder.
