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“Mini Cyclone” Sweeps Aussie Surfer Out to Sea (Video)
Chris Hyde/Getty Images

Amid torrential winds up to 57 miles per hour, downed trees and lost power, the Gold Coast is going through it right now. Severe storms are battering the region, but that hasn’t stopped everyone from surfing. You may have seen this kid whose board blew all the way to Perth. But that wasn’t the worst of it, as one surfer reportedly was recently blown out to sea from Snapper Rocks by the mini cyclone and caught on a drum line.

The news comes from the Instagram account Nicka35. The clip was pulled from a Surfline camera. The caption claims, “Footage just in shows a surfer blown out to sea in a mini cyclone on the Gold Coast this week. CCTV captures the man returning to the beach fatigued and unable to walk from the hectic experience.”

It turned out that the surfer was actually stuck on a shark drum line after it hooked through his leg, according to Nicka35. In the comments, Nicka35 wrote, “I have spoken with emergency services, who confirm the 69-year-old man was blown into the shark drum line, where he was actually severed [sic] on the leg by the hook! He is ok and out of the Robina hospital.” Sounds extremely painful, to put it mildly, and it's fortunate this guy made it back to shore in one piece.

Drum lines, a shark deterrent device, are essentially floating buoys with a hook (and a small piece of fish) attached to the bottom. Depending on the type of drum line and the authorities deploying it, the shark on the line is either killed or relocated further offshore and released. They are typically deployed near popular swimming beaches and were first used in Queensland, Australia, in the 1960s

Though advocates say they help reduce shark attacks on humans, critics say they often catch other animals like turtles, fish, dolphins and even whales. Apparently, even a human can get in trouble, too. 

This article first appeared on SURFER and was syndicated with permission.

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