SYDNEY, Nov. 6 (Xinhua) -- A 33-year-old man was killed by a shark on Monday evening, after being attacked while swimming off a yacht near Cid Harbor at the Whitsunday Islands.
According to a RACQ CQ Rescue helicopter service spokeswoman, the man was assisted by two doctors and a nurse who were on a nearby boat, until paramedics arrived on board.
One of the paramedics who responded to the incident described the scene to Channel 9News as "absolutely horrific."
Suffering severe wounds to his leg and wrist, the man had to be resuscitated twice and then airlifted to Mackay Base Hospital at around 8:00 p.m. for immediate surgery.
Due to the extent of his injuries however, he died a short time later.
The latest attack on the Great Barrier Reef came just weeks after two other tourists were mauled by sharks in September.
A 12-year-old girl, also at Cid Harbour, lost her leg after a shark bit her and a 46-year-old women was lucky to survive a serious bite to her thigh.
In October, further up the coast at Yeppoon, a fisherman in his 50s was also attacked by a shark.
Many in the area are now calling on the state government of Queensland to implement baited drum lines and shark nets to prevent further attacks.
"I think we're flirting with danger when you compare us to other communities, from Alice Beach north of Cairns, down to Townsville, which is peppered with drum lines and nets and so forth, around Magnetic Island, the northern beaches of Mackay and you go all the way down to the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast, and we've got nothing in the Whitsundays -- it's madness," Whitsunday Member of Parliament Jason Costigan told ABC radio on Tuesday.
