Irish angler airlifted after blue shark bite off Waterford coast

A fisherman from Dungarvan, Ireland, is recovering in hospital after a blue shark he had caught and brought onto his boat bit him on the leg off the coast of County Waterford on Tuesday, August 11, 2026. Sebastian Achim, a content creator, was part of a group angling for sharks south of Ardmore when the incident occurred at approximately 4:15 p.m.

Achim told All About Cork with Paul Byrne that the group had already caught and released three sharks when he landed his first blue shark. As he was admiring the catch alongside the vessel, the shark lunged and bit his calf. "It managed to rip part of my calf and do damage that we required special services for," Achim said. He described blood spraying everywhere and realized the severity of the injury, which was a wound approximately 10 centimeters long. "I knew it was bad," he said. "I was scared a bit for my leg at one point."

His friends intervened to pull the shark off him and applied a makeshift tourniquet to control the bleeding. Achim said he remained calm but feared for his life at moments, thinking only of getting home safely. The Irish Coast Guard's Marine Rescue Coordination Centre in Dublin was alerted at 4:16 p.m.,...