Six-foot bull shark lands in family’s fishing boat

A family in Queensland received quite a shock when a six-foot bull shark landed in their boat.

Ken Madsen and his grandson Jake were loading their boat up when they heard a commotion on the Proserpine River October 12.

“Me and pop thought they must have caught a pretty decent fish when we saw the water splashing about,” Jake told 9News.

As the two looked towards the small aluminum type boat, they realized a six-foot bull shark was in the boat flopping around.

A father and his children, who were around 8- or 9-years-old, were yelling for help and running towards the bow of the boat.

“We heard the screaming and thought it had got one of the kids,” Jake said.

“It knocked the little lads out of the way and started thrashing around in the boat, smashing the canopy and sending a chair flying out into the water,” Mr. Madsen added.

Not only had the shark landed near the boat’s driving console which prevented the father from guiding the boat to safety, but a five-foot crocodile was watching the scene unfold as well.

The Madsen’s quickly deployed their boat and went to aid the family.

“We got beside the boat and the little fellas jumped right into ours,” Mr. Madsen said.

After the kids were onboard, they towed the vessel into shore, but the kids were a little reluctant to exit the boat while the crocodile was still in the area.

Just before the shark landed in the boat, members of the family said the they saw the shark jump out of the water about 32 feet away.

A few minutes later, the shark landed between two brothers who were sitting in the back of the boat.

Mr. Madsen said the shark was so heavy that had the family tried to throw it overboard while on the water, it would have tipped the tiny boat over.

Two other men helped Madsen lift the shark out of the boat and onto the dock. They snapped a few photos and released it back into the water around the Whitsunday region.