Offbeat | Swedes used towels, rope on Britons’ shark bite injuries

Two Swedish nurses say they used towels and rope to stop the bleeding from two British men’s injuries in a shark attack on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.

The men had been snorkeling Tuesday in the Whitsunday Islands when a shark bit off one man’s foot and mauled the other man’s leg.

Swedish couple Billy Ludvigsson, who is an ambulance nurse, and Emma Andersson, an emergency response nurse, were on a day cruise vessel where the men were loaded after the attack.

Andersson said they helped the man who was loaded on first but his injury was less severe. They made a makeshift tourniquet to stop the life-threatening bleeding for the man who lost his foot and were successful after a few minutes, the Swedes told a news conference in Cannonvale.

“Injury wise, we have seen worse obviously, but it’s different when it’s a shark attack and we’ve been in the water at the same time. It’s more like personal like that,” Ludvigsson said.

The two men were in stable condition in a hospital in the mainland city of Mackay yesterday. Danny Maggs, 22, had cuts on his right calf. Alistair Raddon, 28, lost his right foot.

They issued a joint statement thanking everyone involved in their care and their friends and family back home for their support.

Three shark attacks occurred last year in the Whitsundays, an international tourist destination featuring coral, whitesand beaches and rainforest islands. A man diving from a paddle board died in November, and two Australians were mauled on consecutive days in September 2018.