Female Surfer Uses Tourniquet to Survive Freak Accident

22-year-old Leah Cameron was surfing after work when a reformed wave tossed her on top of her board, the fin of which punctured her they with a gnarly gash.

“Conditions were perfect, quite small and it was like a freak wave that shut down on me. I ended up in the wrong place, wrong time. It was quite surreal,” Cameron told Waikato Times in a video while recovering in the hospital. “There were some big sets of waves coming in, so I caught this massive wave that came through and my board slipped out from underneath me, and embedded into the sea floor.”

Thinking quickly Cameron used her leash as a tourniquet and was airlifted to a local hospital. The tourniquet saved her life.

It just goes to show you never know what’s going to happen when you venture into the ocean so its wise to keep your head about you.