Diving partner of Brit nan killed by a Great White shark made horrifying call to coastguard just moments after the attack
Perth fisherman tells of the tragic moment he received distress call from friend of diver Doreen Collyer
THE diving partner of a Brit who was killed by a shark in Western Australia had to make the chilling emergency call for help.
Grandmother Doreen Collyer, 60, was mauled by a massive great white yesterday off the coast of Perth.
Fisherman Neil Dawson received the tragic call from a diver known only as John, who begged for assistance.
The Daily Mail Australia reported that he said: “Urgent, emergency. My dive partner has been killed by a huge great white shark.”
Fisherman Neil Dawson told the site: “He sounded quite composed, given the circumstances. He was able to give quite a good, legible and rational call.
“He said words to the effect of: “Urgent, emergency. My dive partner has been killed by a huge great white shark.
“The understanding we had in the tower was that there was no saving her, there was no chance of survival due to the injuries she’d received.”
After the tragic event, diving partner John had contacted Whitfords volunteer Sea Rescue to get help.
Once Dawson had received the distress call, the team’s fastest boat was dispatched to pull Collyer’s body out of the water.
Team commander Ron Harris said: “We've dealt with drownings and other accidents before but nothing on this scale of trauma. It was very traumatic - for her diving partner and for our rescuers.”
Harris said that his team had done a “great job”, but they were too shocked to talk to reporters about the incident.
The four men are to receive counselling after the tragic death.
Harris also said that this was the most traumatic rescue he had experienced after 14 years
Dawson added that the volunteers saved John’s life by blocking his boat from the shark while they recovered Collyer’s body.
60-year-old nurse Doreen went diving on a reef off the coast of Mindarie, in Peth.
She had been reportedly attacked at that spot a dozen times before.
But on Sunday’s expedition, diving partner John felt a shark “brush past them”
Coming to the surface, John realised that his partner had been badly attacked by the great white.
He tried to pull her back onto the boat, but she died in the sea.
The huge shark is thought to have been bigger than their 5.3m boat.
Harris and Dawson’s dramatic testimony follows a touching tribute from Collyer’s husband David.
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He said yesterday: “Doreen was a beautiful person and everyone loved her, she was a devoted grandmother, mother and loving wife.”
“Doreen loved nursing, she was a passionate nurse and she was a fantastic teacher.
“She was a beautiful, wonderful person and she was very good at her job.
“She was loved by everybody and was very caring and loving. She was full of life and very active.
“She touched a lot of lives through her teaching and through her time working on the wards.”
Husband David added that she was a keen swimmer and loved going out to dive.
He said: “She was a very experienced diver and she loved diving. She used to go out every week as much as she could. It was something she really enjoyed.”
This was the first time that Doreen had been diving in weeks due to bad weather.
The couple were due to celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary this year.
Doreen and David had moved to Iluka, Perth five years before to be close to their son and grandchild.
The pair have two children together and a granddaughter called Daisy.
Doreen was working as the Director of Postgraduate Studies at the School of Nursing and Midwifery at Edith Cowan University in Perth.
Shocking video footage emerged after the horrific attack of a large shark in the same area.
A fisherman reportedly took the clip an hour and a half after Doreen Collyer was savagely attacked.
This led to speculation that it was the same shark who had killed the Brit.
The man, who remains anonymous, said: “It was kind of her hobby, she did it with her husband. She loved going diving.”
Collyer was born in Liverpool and brought up in Birkenhead before moving to Neston with husband David.
She was a special paediatric nurse at Countess of Chester Hospital and spent 15 years teaching nursing at the University of Chester.
Her shocking death has sparked a massive hunt for the shark responsible.
2km of beaches in the area have been closed off so coastguards can find the shark.
Authorities have been advised to shoot to kill the shark if it is found.
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