Elyse Frankcom, 19, survived a vicious shark attack that left her with 200 stitches and fragments of the shark's tooth stuck inside her skin, thanks to the bravery of Trevor Burns, who grabbed the predator by its tail to save her.
The attack occurred in 2010 off Garden Island, roughly 80 kilometres south of Perth in Australia. Elyse was a tour guide with Rockingham Wild Encounters and had been hosting a 'Swim with the Dolphins' tour when the incident happened at about 12.30pm on October 30, 2010.
Attack and Rescue
The teenager had been snorkelling in Cockburn Sound, an inlet of the Indian Ocean on the coast of Western Australia, with 33 other divers, including three children, when a shark, believed to be a 10-foot long great white, bit into her hip and left buttock.
Elyse said she never saw the shark approaching. In a statement given to the Australian media at the time, she shared: “I felt me inside its mouth. It was horrifying. I felt the force of being kind of pulled to the side, and then I looked and saw a grey figure in front of me.”
One of the divers in Elyse's tour group was Trevor Burns, a Queenslander from Brisbane and father of two, who was on vacation with his wife and children. The shark darted past Trevor, and he immediately reacted by grabbing the deadly predator's tail.
Quick Thinking
Trevor said in a statement at the time: “I thought it was a dolphin (but) it opened its mouth and did a double bite on her and I immediately realised, dolphins aren't like that. I thought I just had to get it off her, so that's when I grabbed it by the tail and held on for a quick ride.”
Frank Pisani, one of the first rescuers on the scene and a senior skipper with Fremantle Sea Rescue, spoke about Trevor's crucial role: “He certainly was instrumental in making this a good outcome. As the shark bit her, it brushed aside a fairly large male [Trevor] who grabbed hold of the tail of the shark, which then made it let go.”
Elyse added: “My first instinct was honestly to punch it [the shark] and I pushed it away from me.” The combined assault from Trevor and Elyse forced the shark to open its jaws and loosen its grip.
Aftermath and Recovery
The thrashing shark broke free from Trevor, and he lost sight of it in the churned-up water. Trevor shared: “It was just red, pink and white foam everywhere, I stopped seeing Elyse, she wasn't there. By the time the shark had disappeared, the water cleared and I could then see Elyse. She was going down and she was well towards the bottom.”
Trevor reached down, grabbed her, and brought her back to the surface. The young woman remained conscious the whole time and remembered not feeling any pain until her colleagues and tour guests tried to stem the bleeding from her thigh wounds.
A helicopter was waiting for Elyse on the shore to take her to the Royal Perth Hospital, where her injuries were treated. She required about 200 stitches to close her wounds, which included a semi-circle bite on her right thigh and deep gashes on her left leg. She also had fragments of the shark's tooth stuck inside her skin.
Elyse recalled: “Everyone was saying I'd lost a lot of blood. Of course, being attacked by a shark it's what just runs through your mind… a lot of people don't survive, I'm just lucky to be the person who did.”
Speaking about Trevor, she said: “He’s my hero. He’s my lifesaver and I wouldn’t be here without him.” Trevor, however, feels he's no hero: “I don’t consider myself a hero. I’ve just done what I was brought up to do. Mom and Dad told me to look after people. There was no way I was letting Elyse get taken by that damn thing.”
For his brave actions, Trevor received the Star of Courage, Australia’s second highest civil bravery honour, at the Australian Bravery Awards. As for Elyse, The West Australian reported her as saying: “I plan to spend a lot of time in the ocean, I knew I was going to come across a shark at one stage, I'm just glad I've got it out of the way. I honestly think I was in the wrong place at the wrong time, the ocean's a big place.”
Elyse added: “We are going into their territory. Sharks are killers, you can't kill something for doing what it's made naturally to do.”
