Titus Joseph, shark attack victim Sam Nai and Yenick Aniba at the 2026 QAS Young Hero of the Year Award event. Photo: Renae Droop/RDW Photography.
A pair of courageous young mates from Thursday Island have both been honoured as Young Hero of the Year at the Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS) Commissioner’s Achievement Awards after scooping another youngster from the water and stemming his bleeding following a horrific shark attack.
Sam Nai, 14, was fishing at Quarantine Wharf on the Torres Strait hub Waiben (Thursday Island) with his friend Titus Joseph, 11, and cousin Yenick Aniba, 14, on 11 October 2025.
When Sam jumped in the water, he was quickly attacked by a large shark and suffered a significant bite to his abdomen.
Titus dived in and managed to pull Sam to a nearby rock wall – despite the shark lingering nearby – and screamed for someone to help his badly injured mate.
Yenick called out to a group of bystanders, who used a shirt and picnic blanket to stabilise Sam’s injuries before QAS paramedics arrived.
One paramedic who rushed to help described Titus’s efforts as “superhuman”.
QAS has praised the boys for their “courage and quick thinking under extreme pressure”, which “undoubtedly helped save Sam’s life”.
Doctors told Sam’s family they believed he suffered one of the most severe shark bites anyone had survived.
Audio has been released by QAS of Sam’s mother Shanna Mosby phoning triple zero for help.
“My son Samuel, who is 14 years old, was swimming and something bit him. And he has a huge, deep gash and several smaller ones across his left abdomen to his back … it looks like a shark,” she tells the operator.
Sam was “going pale” and drifted “in and out” of consciousness, but survived in large part thanks to the help of Titus and Yenick, and other bystanders.
The Young Hero of the Year Award recognises young people who have played a “significant role in the chain of survival to save the life of another and shown maturity, courage and leadership in a difficult or demanding situation”.
QAS Commissioner Craig Emery, Yenick Aniba, Sam Nai, Titus Joseph and Health and Ambulance Services Minister Tim Nicholls. Photo: Renae Droop/RDW Photography.
QAS Commissioner Craig Emery was blown away by Titus and Yenick’s bravery: “Kids never cease to amaze you, do they?
“Imagine the horrific scene of seeing one of your mates bitten by a shark, languishing in the water, for one of his mates to dive in to bring him back to the jetty while his other friend called for help,” he said.
“The paramedics that attended that scene called out not only the bravery of those two young men, but the lifesaving techniques that brought Sam back to us today for this award.”
Minister for Health and Ambulance Services Tim Nicholls presented the award to the boys at the (QAS) Remembrance Service and Commissioner’s Achievement Awards on 11 September.
