Overview
- Alejo Santiñaque, 20, says a shark bit his foot while he sat on his board off Red Cliff Beach and pulled him underwater before he fought back by kicking and returned to shore once the board leash tore free.
- Friends applied a tourniquet on the beach and an ambulance took him to hospital where surgeons repaired torn skin and muscle and treated a ruptured tendon and other soft-tissue damage.
- Santiñaque described the attack on social media and stressed he holds no ill will toward sharks, saying the incident was an accident and that he still respects the ocean.
- Local residents on a Friends of Brooms Head Facebook page reported recent shark sightings feeding on schools of mullet and warned people to avoid low-visibility water and dusk swimming, but no official beach closures or government safety actions were reported.
- Shark encounters of this kind are rare but can cause severe limb injury, and experts and locals point to baitfish, poor water visibility and broken surfboard leashes as factors that can raise the risk of bites.