Justine Barwick, 46, from Burnie, was snorkeling near a yacht at the Whitsundays in Queensland when she was mauled by a shark, leaving her with severe leg and torso injuries.

She remains in the intensive care unit at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, where she is recovering from an 18-hour reconstructive surgery – her third operation since Wednesday.  

Specialists were able to repair ligaments and other structures including nerve, skin and muscle grafting to reconstruct the injured limb.  

Her husband, Craig Barwick, said the surgeons had done “an amazing job”.

“The surgery took much longer than we were anticipating, finishing at 1am on Saturday,” he said.  

“[The leg] looks like it has always been there.” 

Mr Barwick said a consultant plastic surgeon and an ICU specialist at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital had advised him that over the next 24 hours, once they were satisfied that the surgery has been successful, they would commence lifting the level of Mrs Barwick’s sedation.   

“The current prognosis is looking good with an estimated two to three weeks recovery in Brisbane and then back to Tasmania for further rehabilitation.” Mr Barwick said. 

“Justine has been opening her eyes and blinking in response to my voice,” he said.  

“All of us would like to thank the surgical team for their marathon effort save Justine's leg.” 

Mrs Barwick’s attack was followed by similar incident in the same area on Thursday afternoon, with 12-year-old Melbourne schoolgirl Hannah Papps left in a critical condition after she was bitten in Cid Harbour, off Whitsunday Island. She was airlifted to Mackay Base Hospital in a critical condition and later transferred to Brisbane. 

Fisheries Queensland confirmed two large tiger sharks were caught and shot dead on a single drum line on Saturday in the Cid Harbour area.

The Examiner