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Shark attack diver in Australia loses hand

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-02-12 15:02

SYDNEY -- An Australian navy diver who fought off a shark in a rare attack in Sydney Harbour was in high spirits despite losing a hand and facing the prospect of losing a leg, his family said Thursday.

The Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Sydney Opera House dominate Sydney's skyline. An Australian navy diver who fought off a shark in a rare attack in Sydney Harbour was in high spirits despite losing a hand and facing the prospect of losing a leg, his family said Thursday. [Agencies]

Able Seaman Paul de Gelder, 31, was taking part in a defence exercise near an upmarket residential area of the harbour in Australia's largest city when he was attacked Wednesday.

"As a result of the attack Paul has lost his right hand above the wrist and may lose his right leg, however he is in high spirits," de Gelder's family said in a brief statement issued through the Australian Defence Force.

The family thanked surgeons at Sydney's St Vincent's Hospital and the fellow divers and paramedics who stabilised de Gelder after the attack and then rushed him to hospital.

The attack took place near the Garden Island Naval Base in Woolloomooloo Bay, which is lined with seafood restaurants and celebrity apartments.

The diver was taking part in a trial of new technologies to protect ports and ships from underwater attack but was on the surface when the shark struck, officials said.

A hospital spokeswoman said de Gelder was in a serious but stable condition after surgery.

Officals said Wednesday that he had punched the predator, believed to be a bull shark, before it swam away.

While shark attacks are not uncommon off Australia's vast coastline, experts said no one had been bitten by a shark in Sydney Harbour for more than a decade and the last fatal attack was in 1963.

The diver's mauling follows a spate of attacks on swimmers off Australian beaches last month, sending a shiver through summer holidaymakers. Three swimmers were attacked and injured within 24 hours just two weeks after a snorkeller was killed.

But, with 194 deaths through shark attacks recorded in Australia over the past two centuries, researchers point out endlessly that more people die from bee stings and lightning strikes.