Shark kills Australian surfer (Roundup)

Aug 17, 2010, 13:50 GMT

Sydney - Fellow surfers who came to the aid of an Australian man killed by a shark related Tuesday their futile efforts to save his life by staunching the bleeding from a massive gash in his leg.

Nicholas Edwards, 31, died on the way to the hospital at Margaret River, 270 kilometres south of Perth.

Eddie Kilgallon told national broadcaster ABC that Edwards had lost much of the flesh on his right leg and it was a struggle to keep him conscious in the 20 minutes it took for the ambulance to arrive at Gracetown beach.

'We just kept on encouraging him,' Kilgallon said. 'We noticed that he had a wedding ring on, constantly reminding him of the people that love him and we tried to give him their love.'

Edwards, married with two young children, worked in Western Australia's mining industry and was having an early morning surf before going off to work.

Kilgallon and others made a makeshift tourniquet using a surfboard leg rope and tried to keep his leg together.

'The bottom half of his thigh was exposed and ripped open,' he said. 'Half of his calf muscle was also torn to shreds.'

Fatal shark attacks average one a year in Australia, with most of the victims surviving.

'When these events happen they're obviously horrific but one thing I guess is that they're fairly rare,' Fisheries Department regional manager Phil Shaw said.

Six years ago, a surfer named Brad Smith died in a shark attack at the same beach.