A fisherman was left unconscious and seriously injured after being struck by a whale’s tail at sea.
The 30-year-old man was struck in the face on Sunday morning during an “extremely rare” encounter with the mammal about 1km from Fingal Head, near the New South Wales-Queensland border.
He was unconscious, but managed to stay in the boat.
The man’s fishing buddy and some passing jet skiers raised the alarm about the impending emergency.
Marine Rescue, water police and ambulance personnel travelled across the sea to rescue the fisherman and return him to land.
He was rushed to Gold Coast University Hospital in a stable condition with injuries to his spine and face.
Queensland Ambulance Service Chief Paramedic Scott Brown said he had never before seen a whale make contact with a fisherman on a stationary boat.
“At first you can’t believe this happened,” Brown told reporters.
A man in his 30s was left unconscious after being struck by a whale’s tail while fishing off Tweed Heads bar
‘Two guys were fishing one morning and suddenly a whale tail appeared and hit one of them in the head.
“One, that you get so close to a whale and two, that the tail of the whale hits you while you are in the boat – that happens very rarely.”
Rescuers were able to get the unconscious fisherman onto dry land by triangulating to the location of his fellow boat owner’s ‘triple-0’ call.
Mr Brown added that the man was “very lucky” not to have been more seriously injured.
Marine Rescue volunteers met the pair at sea and helped emergency services steer the boat back to shore.
There were fears that moving the man would cause further injuries as emergency workers were unsure whether he had suffered neck injuries.
When the man regained consciousness, he felt “angry and sad.”
“I couldn’t believe what had happened. I couldn’t remember everything that had happened, but it was positive.”
Another man who was in the same can as the man dubbed Triple-0 was taken to Gold Coast University in a stable condition with injuries to his face and spine.
John Murray from Marine Rescue NSW told 9News that he had never encountered such a case in his 22 years of service.
“It’s extraordinary,” he said.
“I’ve never heard of a whale coming into contact with someone on a stationary boat.”