Sebastian Achim, a content creator from Dungarvan, was bitten on the calf by a blue shark while fishing with friends off Ardmore, a village on the south coast of Ireland, on Tuesday. The Irish Coast Guard dispatched a helicopter from Waterford and two RNLI lifeboats after receiving a report of the attack at 4.16pm. Achim was airlifted to Cork University Hospital, where doctors treated him and saved his leg, though further surgeries are reportedly required.
Angler airlifted to hospital after shark bite off Irish coast
Sebastian Achim, a content creator from Dungarvan, was bitten on the calf by a blue shark while fishing with friends off Ardmore, a village on the south coast of Ireland, on Tuesday. The Irish Coast Guard dispatched a helicopter from Waterford and two RNLI lifeboats after receiving a report of the attack at 4.16pm. Achim was airlifted to Cork University Hospital, where doctors treated him and saved his leg, though further surgeries are reportedly required.
Achim recounted the incident in an interview with All About Cork with Paul Byrne on Wednesday, saying the shark lunged at his leg after he had caught it. 'The catch decided to lunge at my leg and grab my calf,' he said. 'It managed to rip part of my calf and do damage that we required special services for.'
He said blood loss was significant and that he feared the worst before his companions intervened. His friends pulled the shark off and applied a makeshift tourniquet and a wrap to a wound described as approximately 10 centimetres in size, keeping him stable until the air ambulance arrived.
Ballycotton RNLI in Cork said it was called by the coast guard to assist a vessel described as a 'five-metre pleasure craft' carrying five people on board.
Ballycotton RNLI coxswain Eolan Walsh said in a statement that the patient 'received urgent medical assistance as quickly and safely as possible.' Walsh also used the incident to urge offshore safety precautions, advising those heading out to sea to ensure their vessel is suited to conditions, wear a properly fitted lifejacket or personal flotation device, carry a reliable means of communication, and inform someone ashore of their plans.
- The Irish Coast Guard and RNLI had not responded to requests for comment at the time of publication.
- The full medical prognosis for Achim, including the nature and number of further surgeries required, is not detailed in the source.
- The identities or accounts of the friends present during the incident are not included.
- No independent confirmation of the species involved beyond the characterisation of the fishing trip as targeting blue sharks is provided.
Read the original at The Independent