How to help victims survive shark attacks: Doctor in Australia gives his top ...

While Australia is home to some of the deadliest sharks in the world, an emergency doctor has created a simple first-aid technique to avoid fatalities from an attack.

Instead of applying a tourniquet or direct pressure to the victim's bite, ANU Medical School Associate Dean Dr Nicholas Taylor said people should press down with their fist on the area between the hips and genitals and use the full force of their bodyweight. 

In the event of a shark bite to the leg, Dr Taylor says the force of someone's weight will help close off the main artery and prevent significant blood loss from the wound.

He says the idea is that while waiting for an ambulance to arrive, someone will be able to provide some help to the victim by reducing the blood flow from the bite.

'In shark attacks, most people don't actually get bitten twice and they can make it back to the shore,' Dr Taylor said.

'I thought, if you make it to the beach with a friend and they're bleeding from the leg, what would be the best thing you could do?

'I knew from my background in emergency medicine if people have massive bleeding from their leg, you can push very hard on the femoral artery and you can pretty much cut the entire blood flow of the leg that way.'

Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, Dr Taylor said the idea first came to him while he was holidaying in Western Australia, where three people have died from shark attacks within the last year.

He was staying with a well known surfer and board shaper and learnt that most people in the area were taught to apply pressure to the bite or use a leg rope as tourniquet in the event of a shark attack. 

'I saw all these media reports and noticed that most people are using leg ropes as tourniquets and I thought we should see if that actually works because as a doctor I would push on the groin,'

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