DRAMATIC RESCUE AFTER MAN WAS BITTEN BY A SEA SNAKE
Dramatic footage has captured the moment a fisherman was recued off a remote part of the Australian coast after he was bitten by a sea snake.
The man was on a fishing vessel in the Joseph Bonaparte Gulf, around 360km south-west of Darwin, when he needed urgent medical attention at 9.15am on Monday.
Officials from the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) were notified about the incident.
The agency arranged for a LifeFlight rescue helicopter to be dispatched from the Truscott Airbase in WA before the aircraft arrived at the scene around 11.45am.
Rescuers worked quickly to remove the man, aged in his 30s, off the ship before he was flown to the airbase.
An AMSA spokesman told Daily Mail Australia crews from the Royal Flying Doctor Service transported the man to Broome Hospital.
'The AMSA Cairns-based Challenger was also on the scene to provide support,' the spokesman said.
The man is currently in a stable condition in hospital.
It is not known how the man came across the the creature though the snakes can be inadvertently caught in the large nets used by fishing trawlers.
Sea snakes originate in Australian waters but the creatures have spread out to parts of the Asia Pacific and the Persian Gulf.
Australia is home to around 70 species of sea snakes.
The creatures are not aggressive and do not often bite, but they are venomous.
A 23-year-old British man died after he was bitten by a sea snake while he was working on a fishing trawler in 2018 in the Northern Territory.
Despite the incident, deaths caused by the reptiles are rare.
Anyone bitten by the creature should be assisted using the pressure immobilisation technique and seek medical attention immediately.