Man Fights Off Bull Shark Using Speargun, Suffers Massive Leg Wound In Attack

A 24-year-old man diving in the shallow waters off the Australian coast fought off a bull shark by stabbing it with his speargun. The animal dislocated the man’s knee and gave him a massive leg wound in the horrific attack.

Phillip Brown was spearfishing near Yarrabah off the coast of North Queensland on Sunday when the bull shark pounced upon him. Initially, he did not see the shark because of his "big long diving flippers."

"I was down under a cave, trying to look for a barra. When I popped my head back up, there was the bull shark coming straight in for me," Brown told 7News. He added that the shark was “easily” bigger than three meters.

Brown said he knew what was about to happen and attempted to swim towards a nearby rock. "Just as I grabbed the rock he came up from behind and grabbed my leg," he told ABC News. "I thought that was my last day because I'm nothing much and he was a big shark." The shark dislocated Brown’s knee and gave him a big leg wound, according to the report.

But quick thinking on Brown’s part saved his life. He stabbed the shark on its head with his speargun. The shark let him go and Brown pulled himself on top of a partially submerged rock.

But, the shark had no intention of leaving the man that easily. "He kept circling and kept coming back because I was losing a lot of blood," Brown told ABC News.

Brown, with the injured leg, soon called out to his friends and family at a nearby boat. On board, they used an anchor rope to tie a tourniquet around Brown’s leg and used a shirt as a makeshift bandage. Due to low tide at the time, it became harder for the group to reach the shore, the 7News report said.

Eventually, the group was able to get close enough to the shore and carried Brown to their truck. He was transported to a nearby medical facility for immediate treatment. Later, Brown was flown to another hospital for surgery.

Brown, who remains in hospital, said he plans to dive again, just not in the shallow waters of Yarrabah. "I'll just go back out to the reefs, in the clear water," he told ABC News.