A WEXFORD man has been nominated for a ‘Pride of Australia’ award, having saved his friend from the grip of a shark last summer.
Shane De Róiste has been hailed a hero for the immense bravery he showed when a shark emerged from behind friend Dale Carr as the pair were bodyboarding on the afternoon of August 22nd 2015.
The son of Margaret and Dermot De Róiste, Duncormick, was with Australian native Mr. Carr at Lighthouse Beach, Port Macquarie, Sydney, when the incident occurred shortly after 4pm.
The friends were about 150m from shore when the fierce creature grasped Mr. Carr’s thigh and buttocks with its upper teeth and his board with its lower jaw.
The Australian man almost died on two occasions and lost almost three litres of blood while being mauled by the shark in a vicious attack.
“The attack was seconds, silent but ferocious and almost deadly,” Mr. De Róiste told the Wexford Echo.
Mr. Carr repeatedly punched the shark in the eye to try and fight it off his body, but his efforts were to no avail.
It wasn’t until the Australian man stuck his thumb in the eye socket of the great white that the creature removed itself from Mr. Carr’s body.
“Dale was screaming at me to get out but you’re not going to leave a mate and just turn and go,” Wexford native De Róiste told national media last week.
“I just headed in his direction to see what I could do,” he said.
“You see people being attacked by sharks in films… well it was the very same thing.
Read more in the Wexford Echo.