Groote Eylandt resident Karl Waters explains what happened when a whitetip reef shark accidentally bit his arm while he was spearfishing.
WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGE BELOW
A Kiwi fisherman has been left with a nasty gaping hole in his arm after he was bitten by a shark - for a second time.
Karl Waters was out at sea off the coast of Australia's Northern Territory trying to catch a trout with hisspear when a 4ft whitetip reef shark suddenly appeared.
The shark was attempting to eat Waters' catch but instead gripped onto his body and chomped down on his arm.
The spearfisherman sustained deep lacerations to his right arm.
"I could see that he hadn't hit any of the main arteries or anything on the inside of the arm, so I sort of relaxed a little bit straight away then," he told ABC.
"I gave my hand a little bit of a wiggle, made sure that he hadn't severed any tendons, and shouted out nice and loud to my mate who was in the boat at the time."
After checking out his arm, his friend raised anchor as Waters swam back to the boat with the pair working together to bandage up the wound to stem the heavy bleeding.
Karl Waters, who was left with gaping holes in his arm after a shark bite, says he holds no bad blood for the predator. Photo / Caters
But the Temuka man wasn't out of the woods yet. Realising they were out of phone range, he had to use the radio to contact a nearby boat which was able to make the call for help.
Craig Garraway from St John Ambulance said everything had to be done by sat phone, and with communication difficult they had to prepare for the worst.
After making it to land the Kiwi fisherman was airlifted to Darwin hospital where he was given 30 stitches.
Karl Waters suffered severe lacerations after a whitetip reef shark accidentally bit his arm while he was spearfishing. Photo / Screengrab / Newscorp Australia
Waters revealed it's not the first time he's been bitten by a shark after he was nipped by a sevengill shark in New Zealand less than a year ago.
He said the shark in his latest ordeal had no intention of biting him and it was an accident that can't be blamed on the wild animal.
Despite it being his second incident with a shark, he's hoping to get back in the water once his wound heals.
