Mel Ismail has described the moment a shark attack at Glenfield Beach left him without part of his leg, after a quiet morning watching dolphins became a fight for survival.
The 56-year-old off-duty firefighter was surfing near Geraldton, about 420km north of Perth, on September 13 when he was seized and dragged into the water.
As he struggled with the animal, Mr Ismail said he found himself staring into its “big black eye”.
“I was trying to get my fingers in its eye and just pushing its eye as I was being dragged,” he said.
“I personally reckon it gave me the wink, and then shut my leg off, and I knew it had taken my leg.”
Mr Ismail managed to recover his board and catch a wave towards the beach, but was losing strength before reaching safety. He said thoughts of seeing his family again helped drive him towards shore.
He signalled to Shannan Dunn, who had arrived for his first surf in months. Mr Dunn entered the water and paddled towards the injured surfer, unaware at first whether the shark was still nearby.
“I’ve paddled basically as quick as I could to him … I said ‘look mate, you’re alright, I’ve got you, … get on (my) board’ … and he said it’s taken his leg,” Mr Dunn said.
He managed to get Mr Ismail on to the board and used small whitewash waves to help move them towards the shore.
“I was cooked by the time I got to the beach,” Mr Dunn said.
A couple who ran to help made a tourniquet from a leg rope and called triple-0. Local teenagers then helped lift Mr Ismail into Mr Dunn’s ute, which took him towards a waiting ambulance.
Paramedics he had worked with transported him to Geraldton Hospital. His partner, Kylie Fleay, was working her first solo shift on the hospital switchboard when she heard what had happened.
Ms Fleay said she was “in awe of him”, recalling that his first comment was: “I’m going to have to be a bodyboarder now.”
The shark’s species has not been identified, and the incident remains under investigation by fisheries.
