Lucky escape from speargun accident

Most men will cross their knees and squirm to learn how snorkeller Greg Robertson, out spearfishing with friends, managed to shoot himself in the inner thigh, close to the groin. The spear missed his genitals, reported regional press, "by millimetres".

The accident happened after the speargun was washed from Robertson's hands by a wave near the shore at Point Perry. As he climbed over rocks to retrieve it, another wave pushed him onto the gun, the contact setting it off.

Other spearfishers in the group, which included Robertson's girlfriend, raised the alarm and Robertson, fortunate that the spear had missed both his tackle and his femoral artery, was airlifted by rescue helicopter to hospital.

A surgeon removed the spear from one very sore but, it can confidently be said, highly relieved man. His girlfriend would have been pretty relieved too.

The Brisbane outing was reported to have been Robertson's and his girlfriend's first, and possibly last, spearfishing experience.