By Kayla Jardine
Thanks to the Her Majesty's Coastguard’s quick work, this 21-year-old will live to tell his incredible tale!
A British crew fishing off the coast of Cornwall caught a porbeagle shark in its net and accidentally hoisted it aboard. When crew members of the vessel, the 'Govenek of Ladram,' tried to put it back in the ocean, it bit one of the fishermen on the leg.
Thankfully the HM Coastguard wasn’t too far away. After his shipmates were able to sterilize his wound, the young man was airlifted and taken to a hospital.
The rescue team praised the ship’s crew for their first aid work which helped save them precious time before the airlift.
Paramedic winchman Julian 'Bungi' Williams said, "The crew had done a really good job of dressing the wounds before we arrived which meant that we were able to save time getting the casualty to Treliske hospital. We understand that the porbeagle shark was on the deck when the incident happened but as the crew were attempting to put it back in the sea when one of the fishermen was bitten in the process."
Senior HM Coastguard maritime operations officer Alex Grieg also thanked the ship's crew for thier "swift actions" and for contacting the Coastguard. "We were able to arrange the evacuation of the crew member promply and get him to hospital. We understand the fisherman is still in hospital and wish him a speedy recovery."
"We understand the fisherman is still in hospital and wish him a speedy recovery."