Doctor Tells Of Fight To Save Lancashire Shark Victim

20 August 2011, 08:30 | Updated: 30 March 2016, 13:50

A doctor's told of his fight to save a Lancashire man killed by a shark on his honeymoon.

French surgeon Christian Renaud was on holiday in the Seychelles when he helped drag Ian Redmond onto a boat and tried to revive him after the attack.

In his account of the ordeal, published in French newspaper La Depeche, Dr Renaud said told how the 30-year-old let out a 'scream of terror' before disappearing below the water.

He said: 'Immediately the sea was like a lake of blood. The water was red.

'We will never forget it as long as we live. My family and I were very shocked. And that is saying something for a surgeon.'

Mr Redmond was snorkelling off Anse Lazio beach on the island of Praslin when he was bitten.

Dr Renaud helped bring the victim to shore, where he said Mr Redmond's wife Gemma, 27, had witnessed everything.

'I massaged his heart for 20 minutes and we also gave him adrenaline, but he had already lost too much blood.

'There was no proper medical equipment and I couldn't revive his heart. Despite all my best efforts, I lost him.'

The surgeon said a team of shark experts from the US had told him the creature was almost certainly a great white.

Dr Renaud, who was swimming in the same area on the day of the attack, also accused island officials of negligence for not warning tourists of the death of a Frenchman by a shark 15 days earlier.

'Without the negligence of the local authorities this Englishman would never have been killed,'

Yesterday a memorial service was held on the beach where Mr Redmond died.

Mr Redmond, an IT specialist, was savaged just 10 days after his wedding to primary school teacher Gemma Houghton at St Michael's Church, in the village of Dalton, Lancashire, just a few hundred yards from the bride's family home.

She has told how his death left a 'gaping hole' in the hearts of his loved ones.