Shark bite

We had been invited for drinks on a neighbouring boat as they were leaving the next day. Shortly before the appointed hour the wife called on the radio to say that the husband had been bitten and Heidi should come NOW!

We emptied the medical chest in to a big bag and dinghied over to find the husband sat on the stern dripping blood from his foot on to the boat and in to the sea. You could read the relief on the ladies face as Dr. Heidi arrived and took command. Heidi quickly had the leg in the air, cleaned, disinfected and bandaged. Parallel she told me to organize transport to a hospital.

My first “PanPan” message was in English and elicited no response. Daniel asked Patrick to translate in to French and then things happened quickly. The fire brigade was on their way and wanted to know type of wound, status of casualty and so on. The hospital wanted to know type of wound, status of casualty and so on. The coast guard just wanted to know what was happening.

A dinghy appeared out of the dark and transported Heidi and the casualty to shore. A translator also headed to shore and blue flashing lights appeared from town. The medics relieved Heidi of her patient and disappeared off to hospital so we sat down with the wife for a few beers. Later we received the information that the local doctor had decided on an evacuation by plane the following morning.

So now Heidi has added shark bite to her growing list of cases.