Tourist recovers after shark attack

A Dutch tourist was recovering in hospital today after being attacked by a shark while snorkelling off the Queensland coast.

Lienne Schellekens, 18, was near a reef with other tourists on a boat trip, about 25 miles off the coast of Cairns, when a shark bit her left arm on Sunday.

Schellekens suffered severe cuts and was airlifted to the Cairns Base hospital.

“She is in stable condition,” hospital spokeswoman Rose Spencer said today.

According to the description given by the Dutch woman to the boat’s skipper and paramedics, the shark is believed to have been a hammerhead.

Shark researcher Richard Fitzpatrick told Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio that hammerhead sharks were known to be aggressive but rarely encountered.

“They’re a shark that isn’t shy,” Fitzpatrick said. “But generally they just bite, realise it’s the wrong kind of thing and let the person go.”