Diver survives after being bitten by nearly 7-foot shark in Australia: Pretty good bite

A deep-sea diver is counting his lucky stars after surviving a shark attack off the coast of Australia over the weekend. The 31-year-old was bitten on the forearm by a shark measuring over 6-and-a-half feet in length off the coast of Tasmania, Australia shortly after 9 a.m.Saturday, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported. Tasmanian authorities say the man was diving with two other individuals approximately 165 feet off the shore of Adventure Bay at a depth of 26 feet when he was bitten by what is believed to be a broadnose sevengill shark. The victim, who has not been identified, was brought to shore by fellow divers and then airlifted to the Royal Hobart Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, according to Inspector Darren Latham with the Tasmania Police.

The diver is in stable condition, according to police.According to a beachgoer who was on scene when paramedics attended to the man’s injuries, the diver was spearfishing at the time of the attack.“The guy who was bitten had speared a fish and had been bitten by the shark while retrieving the fish on the spear,” the witness, who did not want to be identified, said. “It was a pretty good bite without being anything too serious…just a good, dog-sized bite, maybe the top of his arm,” he added. The broadnose sevengill shark, which was believed to be nearly 7-feet in length, is a “major predator of shark species,” according to Fishing Tasmania.The shark species can reach nearly 10 feet in length and have seven gill slits instead of the usual five found on most other kinds of sharks, per the Shark Research Institute.They are typically found swimming at depths of up to 150 feet and are classified as dangerous in Australia. Shark attacks in the southern state of Australia are rare — with only 15 being recorded throughout history, six of which were fatal.“Sevengill sharks are often encountered by Tasmanian divers, usually without incident,” shark researcher Chris Black told the ...