Thrashing Mako shark bites Coromandel Peninsula fisherman

Tuesday, 3 May 2016

An unwitting fisherman was about to cut the head off a subdued shark when it fought back, biting the man on the foot. 

The Auckland man in his 30s was flown to hospital after the Mako shark he caught off the coast of the Coromandel Peninsula bit him on Monday. 

He was fishing with friends on a boat near Tairua when they hooked the 1.5 metre beast. 

As he went to cut and gut it, it suddenly sprung back to life, said a spokesperson from the Auckland-based Westpac Rescue Helicopter.

'He thought the shark was dead. He was in the process of cutting off it's head and gutting it when it started thrashing around,' she said. 

The shark turned on the fisherman and bit his foot, leaving it with lacerations. 

The injured man was taken back to the marina and transferred from the boat into a waiting ambulance and driven to a landing area in Tairua. 

He was flown from the Coromandel Peninsula to Middlemore Hospital in a moderate condition.