Shark Attack Press Releases

VIRGINIA BEACH, Virginia (CNN) -- A 10-year-old boy died early Sunday after being attacked by a shark in 4 feet of water on Saturday.

David Peltier, of Richmond, was pronounced dead at Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters at 3:45 a.m. ET Sunday.

As a result of the attack, the main artery in his left thigh was severed, resulting in significant blood loss, according to a spokesman for Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters.

David was visiting his father, Richard Peltier, a resident of Virginia Beach, when the attack happened Saturday evening around 6 p.m. ET. The father and son were in about 4 feet of water on a sandbar approximately 50 yards offshore.

Witnesses of the attack say the father could be seen hitting the shark over the head to try to get it to release his son.

David was initially treated at Sentara Virginia Beach General Hospital, and was then transferred to the trauma unit at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital and then taken to Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters where he died.

David's family released a statement through the hospital saying they "appreciate the expressions of concern, sympathy and support they have received from the community and asks that prayers on their behalf continue."

"I speak for the entire city of Virginia Beach when I say how terribly saddened I am by this horrible accident," Mayor Meyera E. Oberndorf said.

Shark attacks are exceptionally in Virginia Beach, according to Maylon White, curator of the Virginia Marine Science Museum. Officials believe Saturday's shark attack was the first in the Virginia Beach area in some 30 years.

In Florida, there have been 28 shark attacks this year. One of the Florida attacks severed the arm of 8-year-old Jessie Arbogast and left him in a light coma.

White noted that sharks in Virginia Beach waters are typically small varieties, such as sandbar, sand tiger and hammerhead. Rarely found are larger types such as tiger and bull sharks, he said. It's not known what type of shark attacked David Peltier.

In order to prevent further attacks in Virginia Beach waters this weekend, Mayor Oberndorf has asked city public safety officials to take all possible precautions to safeguard swimmers from shark attacks.

EMS will have boats patrolling all ocean waters and vehicles checking the oceanfront from the beaches.

All lifeguards will be briefed on searching for signs of sharks prior to beginning their watches. At any sign of shark, lifeguards will require swimmers to leave the water.

EMS officials urge swimmers to be alert and use caution in swimming in the ocean, especially in non-guarded areas.

8/31 attack in St. Petersberg FL-server was down and didnt get posted

Shark Bites 10th Victim

Attack Happened South Of Closed Area

NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. -- A 69-year-old New Smyrna man has become the 10th shark bite victim in as many days.

William Goettel was bitten on the foot late this afternoon, but the wound isn't severe. He was in four feet of water at the 27th Avenue approach, several miles south of the closed area. Nobody, including the victim, saw the shark.

However, beach patrol said that the bite is consistent with a shark bite. Goettel indicated that he had a medical background and would go home and bandage it himself.

Earlier Monday, the beach patrol again spotted sharks in a section of water near the inlet. That area has been closed to the public since late Wednesday afternoon. One surfer decided to go in the water anyway. The beach patrol warned him to come out, but he didn't. He could have been arrested, but beach patrol officials said that, knowing sharks were out there, they weren't going to put their officers at risk to make the arrest.

Beach officials in Volusia County are continuing to keep a close watch on sharks off the coast.

Officials decided early Monday afternoon to keep a 1-mile stretch of New Smyrna Beach south of Ponce Inlet closed to swimmers, but it does not appear that they'll enforce the closure.

There have been 19 shark bites so far this year, more than the previous record of 18 in 1996.

A popular stretch of New Smyrna Beach remains closed this weekend after another person has been bitten by a shark. This one happened about a mile south of the strip of beach that has been closed to swimmers all week.

Ben Gibbs says he didn't see the shark until it had already bitten him. Gibbs was driven by his friends to Florida Hospital Altamonte to be treated. This attack makes for the ninth one in the last week.

DAYTONA BEACH -- Another shark bite Wednesday prompted nervous beach officials to take the unusual step of declaring a section of Volusia County beach off limits today.

Volusia Deputy Beach Chief Joe Wooden said the half-mile stretch in New Smyrna Beach, just south of the Ponce Inlet jetty, will remain off-limits until the risk of shark attacks subsides.

The order came after a surfer was attacked Wednesday, becoming the eighth shark-bite victim in five days and the 18th Volusia County victim this year. Volusia leads the world in shark bites this year, as it usually does.

Lowell Lutz, a 17-year-old surfer, was bitten on the left foot about

4:15 p.m., Wooden said. Lutz was treated at the scene and drove home, but the incident prompted officials to close the beach for the rest of the day and today.

Beach patrol officials warned surfers Wednesday that sharks were sighted and they would be surfing at their own risk, but some remained.

Closing the waters to surfing and swimming for short spells during the course of the day is common, but the beach patrol hasn’t closed any beach for an entire day before, Wooden said.

Safety is the primary concern, but Wooden said the rash of shark attacks has been a publicity nightmare.

Beach patrol officials consulted with other county staff before making the call to close the beach today. He said the ban on swimming and surfing near Ponce Inlet may extend into Friday, depending on the shark activity.

Blacktip sharks, spinner sharks, and even the occasional bull shark swim by the inlet to feed on schools of bait fish all the time.

Ludmilla Lelis can be reached at llelis@ orlandosentinel.com or 386-253-0964.

On Tuesday(8/21), meanwhile, Omar Oyarce, 27, of Altamonte Springs was bitten in the right thigh when he re-entered the water after the beach had been cleared for a short time because of lightning. Beach Patrol officials said Oyarce drove himself to the hospital, but his injuries weren't serious and he was released.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Florida (AP) -- Almost half of the world's shark attacks this year have occurred along a single stretch of Florida's coastline long considered one of the finest surfing spots in the state.

While the area's pristine beaches and good waves attract surfers, experts say the green waters teeming with baitfish -- ballyhoo, mullet, pilchards -- are what draw the predators.

"It's a smorgasbord of food coming back and forth," said George Burgess, director of the International Shark Attack File in Gainesville.

Six people were bitten by sharks off New Smyrna Beach over the weekend, raising to 15 the total of attacks along more than 50 miles of Volusia County's beaches this year, Burgess said. The Volusia County Beach Patrol has a higher figure -- 17.

Forty shark attacks have occurred worldwide since January. Twenty-nine of them have been in the United States.

DAYTONA BEACH, Florida (CNN) -- Sharks attacked three surfers off Florida's upper east coast Sunday, a few miles from where three men were bitten the previous day.

The day's first attack occurred about 11:30 a.m. when a shark bit the foot of a 17-year-old girl about 100 yards off the beach at Wilbur-By-The-Sea south of Daytona Beach, said Joe Wooden, deputy chief of the Daytona Beach Patrol.

Wooden said the victim, whose name was not released, was bitten as she was riding a surfboard; she was taken to Halifax Medical Center in Daytona Beach where she was treated and released.

"She caught a wave, she came off her board, she was going to say something to me, and she screamed and she started yelling," said Scott Love, the girl's boyfriend. "I jumped off my board, threw it to shore and went to her."

Sharks bit two other surfers -- a 32-year-old man and another 17-year-old girl -- around 1:15 p.m. Sunday off New Smyrna Beach, about 15 miles south of the morning attack, Wooden said. Both were taken to Bert Fish Medical Center in New Smyrna Beach for treatment.

The man was bitten on the right foot and the girl was bitten on the left calf, said Wooden.

The man, who identified himself as Bobby Kurrek, was treated and released. He said he saw about two dozen sharks swimming around him when he was bitten.

"Two of them just came at me as fast as they could and hit my surfboard, went under my surfboard, came from behind and pulled me off," Kurrek said.

A hospital spokeswoman said the female would require surgery on her left calf. "It is not a life threatening injury," the spokeswoman said. "She's in good condition."

The girl's father, Ted Chapman, said his daughter Becky felt something hit her in the back just before the bite.

"She knew that something had a hold of her leg, and she reached down and felt the shark and started punching it," he said.

The attacks came a day after three men were bitten by sharks during a surfing competition at Ponce Inlet, on the Atlantic Ocean between Daytona Beach and New Smyrna Beach and about three miles from where a shark bit Sunday's first victim.

Jeff White, 20, and Dylan Feindt, 19, were treated for wounds on their feet from shark bites. Jason Valentine, 20, underwent surgery for a hand injury.

The event, sponsored by the Conference of the National Scholastic Surf Association, continued Sunday but was moved about one mile south of the Saturday location.

The Saturday attacks forced beach closings for about two hours. Wooden said none of those attacked Sunday was involved in the competition.

Leon Johnston, the association's director, said surfers on Saturday saw black-tip sharks up to 6 feet long and bull sharks reaching 8 feet.

Of the 34 reported shark attacks worldwide this year, 14 have been in Volusia County, said Wooden. "We're pretty much keeping an eye on things," said Wooden.

On Thursday, scores of sharks were spotted swimming in the Gulf of Mexico near Lido Key off Sarasota, Florida. Two days earlier, a similar school was seen in shallow waters off Anclote Key, north of Tampa.

In July, a Mississippi boy's arm was bitten off by a shark at Gulf Islands National Seashore near Pensacola in northwest Florida. Doctors were able to reattach the arm, and the boy is recovering at home where he remains in a light coma.

Sharks bite 3 as surfers vie in competition

By Rene Stutzman and Jason Garcia | Sentinel Staff Writers
Posted August 19, 2001

Sharks upstaged a surfing contest Saturday in New Smyrna Beach, nipping three surfers and causing a one-mile stretch of beach to be closed temporarily.

Two competitors were treated at a hospital, but no one was seriously injured, said Joe Wooden, deputy chief of Volusia County’s Beach Patrol.

"I got my hand mangled," said Jaison Valentin, 19, of New Smyrna Beach. He said the shark bit down as he paddled through the surf. Its teeth severed tendons and felt like "a bunch of knives coming in through my hand," Valentin said.

Jeff White, 20, also of New Smyrna Beach, said the shark that grabbed him was 5 to 6 feet long. "It put some nice gashes in my foot," White said. "It just felt like an immediate pressure on my foot, and actually, the pain was not too terrible."

Both men were taken to Fish Memorial Hospital. A third surfer whose name authorities did not know was treated at the scene for a bite to his foot.

Fourteen of the more than 30 shark attacks reported worldwide this year have occurred in Volusia, Wooden said. None of the attacks were fatal.

The inlet of New Smyrna Beach, site of the Saturday attacks, is "where the majority of all of our bites are," Wooden said. "It’s one of the top surfing areas."

It’s also an area with lots of bait fish, an attraction for hungry sharks. On Friday, the surf in the inlet also kicked up, making the water murkier and sharks more difficult to see, Wooden said.

"What happens is they are feeding on the bait fish that are coming in on the south side of the inlet," Wooden said. "The young sharks get into the wave action. They get disoriented in the waves, and they bite down on anything that moves."

On Saturday, about 200 surfers paddled out into that mix for the National Scholastic Surfing Association competition.

The first bite was reported at about 10 a.m. An off-duty lifeguard dressed the wound, and the unidentified man disappeared, Wooden said.

Shortly after Valentin was bitten, the Beach Patrol decided to close the beach, but before lifeguards could do so, White was attacked, Wooden said.

The beach was closed for about an hour, and when it reopened, lifeguards let swimmers only back in. They moved the surf competition down the beach about a mile, Wooden said. The tournament will resume there today.

Wooden was not sure what type of sharks were responsible but speculated it was 4- to 6-foot blacktip or spinner sharks, which typically feed in the inlet.

One of the surfers, Erie Peeples, 31, of New Smyrna Beach, said that in a two-hour period he saw a large number of small blacktips swimming in front of people along the beach in ankle-deep water. About 100 to 150 yards offshore, he started seeing bull sharks, the same type responsible for the devastating attack on a boy near Pensacola this summer.

"It was pretty crazy. I thought for sure I was getting bit. I mean, because they were all around us," Peeples said. "These were big, round, fat, black bull sharks . . . Everybody was scrambling for a wave to get in."

Schools of sharks spotted off Tarpon Springs last week and recent attacks on swimmers in Pensacola and the Bahamas have focused national attention on dangers in the surf, but experts insist that shark attacks are not on the increase.

Rene Stutzman can be reached at rstutzman@orlandosentinel.com or 407-324-7294.

Jason Garcia can be reached at jrgarcia@orlandosentinel.com or 352-742-5926.

Swimmer attacked by shark in Bahamas; 2nd in two weeks

MIAMI, Florida (CNN) -- A shark-attack victim, flown from the Bahamas to Miami late Thursday, was in good condition Friday at Jackson Memorial Hospital, officials said.

The 43-year-old man, who said he was bitten on the left calf while snorkeling, is the second shark-bite victim from Freeport in two weeks.

Officials declined to name the man, though the general manager of the air-ambulance service that brought the victim to the mainland identified him as an American.

The victim was treated at the same hospital as Krishna Thompson, 36, a New York banker who was attacked by a shark August 4 while swimming in the surf off Freeport. Thompson, in the Bahamas with his wife to celebrate their 10-year wedding anniversary, lost his lower left leg.

The latest shark attack highlights a summer in which the finned predators have figured prominently in news headlines and tourists' fears.

A bull shark cruising in knee-deep waters off Gulf Islands National Seasore near Pensacola, Florida, ripped the right arm off 8-year-old Jessie Arbogast on July 6. The boy's uncle retrieved the arm, which surgeons reattached in a 12-hour operation. The Ocean Springs, Mississippi, boy was released from the hospital this week.

In May, a surfer off Jacksonville, Florida, told physicians a shark attacked him, biting his foot twice before swimming away. Also recently, a 48-year-old man was bitten on the leg while surfing near Santa Rosa Island off the Florida Panhandle.

Schools of sharks also massed in the shallows of the Gulf of Mexico just north of Tampa, Florida, earlier this week, attracting throngs of researchers, tourists and reporters.

Puzzled scientists were at a loss to explain why so many sharks, most of them relatively harmless blacktips and nurse sharks, had congregated so suddenly. They were equally nonplussed when the fish dispersed two days later as quickly as they had gathered.

The flurry of sightings and attacks also underscores the release this summer of Michael Capuzzo's "Close to Shore," a book detailing a series of shark attacks along the Jersey Shore in 1916.

Years later, that event inspired Peter Benchley to write "Jaws," which became the 1975 blockbuster film that prompted vacationers everywhere to consider a week in the mountains instead of at the seaside.

Swimmers warned as hundreds of sharks gather

Sydney Morning Herald 8/15/01

Hundreds of sharks have been sighted off central Florida's west coast, prompting officials to warn swimmers and scientists to ponder what is luring them there.

Bull sharks, hammerheads and nurse sharks were among those spotted by sheriff's marine patrols in the shallow Gulf of Mexico waters off Pasco County, north-west of Tampa, officials said today.

Pasco County Sheriff's Office spokesman Kevin Doll said the sharks were first sighted yesterday. No-one has been bitten.

Terri Behling, a spokeswoman for Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, said it is too early to speculate what might be luring the sharks.

Experts, who may visit the area as early as tomorrow, first need to determine the sharks' species and size, she said.

Man attacked by shark has leg amputated

Update article (click)
The Associated Press (Orlando Sentinal)
Posted August 6, 2001, 9:09 AM EDT

MIAMI -- A Long Island man had his left leg amputated by surgeons in Miami after he was attacked by a shark in the Bahamas over the weekend.

Krishna Thompson, a 36-year-old Wall Street banker, was vacationing with his wife in Freeport, Grand Bahama, to celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary."Instead, we got this nightmare," Ave Maria Thompson told The Miami Herald for Monday editions.

The couple flew to the Bahamas on Friday and checked into their room at Our Lacaya resort. The next morning Thompson went for a swim in the ocean.

"He kissed me goodbye, said he'd be right back," Mrs. Thompson said.

Shortly after, Mrs. Thompson said she got a phone call from the hotel staff telling her that her husband needed her.

She said she found him lying on the sand, his legs covered with towels and his face ashen.

"He was just swimming off the beach when something, a shark, grabbed his leg and started pulling him down," Mrs. Thompson said her husband told her by scribbling on a notepad at a hospital. "He kept punching and punching. He has cuts on his hands because of that."

She said her husband managed to free himself and swam to shore using only his right leg because the other was mangled.

Onlookers helped him to shore, where he collapsed. He wrote his room number into the sand before he passed out.

"He knew that was the only way they were going to find me in time," his wife said. "He is so brave. To fight off a shark and then think to do that."

Thompson was in critical condition at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami Monday morning, said spokeswoman Victoria Zambrano.

Thompson was first taken to a Bahamian hospital, where he went into cardiac arrest and had to receive blood transfusions, the Herald reported.

He was transferred Saturday night to Jackson's Ryder Trauma Center in Miami.

Surgeons there worked on Thompson, ultimately having to amputate his leg, just above the knee.

Mrs. Thompson said that though her husband seems alert, doctors told her there was a possibility of brain damage and other complications due to the loss of blood.

PENSACOLA, Florida (CNN) -- A man is in good condition Monday after undergoing surgery for what he described as a shark bite that happened off Florida, just miles from where a young boy was nearly killed in a separate shark attack.

Michael Waters, 48, was surfing when he was bitten Sunday, he said. Waters is expected to be released later Monday, the hospital said.

Another man was treated and released, after being hurt in another shark encounter Sunday off Florida's east coast.

Waters said he was bitten in the waters off the coast of the Florida Panhandle, near Pensacola, about 2:30 p.m., just miles from where a shark bit off 8-year-old Jessie Arbogast's arm and tore into his leg, the Escambia County Sheriff's Office reported.

"From what the doctors say, it's consistent with a shark bite," Lt. Bob Clark of the Escambia County Sheriff's Office said Monday.

Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola could not confirm that it was a shark bite, until officials spoke to the doctors, hospital spokesman Mike Burke said. Waters had surgery on his foot and heel Sunday to repair blood vessels, Burke explained.

The Pensacola News-Journal quoted the man's daughter-in-law, Claressa Selva, 20, as saying the shark was drawn to shore by a shore fisherman who was throwing out bait in the swimming area.

Clark could not confirm that report, saying he believes the shark -- like many others -- was drawn to the area by pods of "bait fish" or smaller fish, feeding in the area.

Selva told the Pensacola News-Journal that the shark bit Waters' ankle and pulled him under the water.

"Thank God he knew how to react. He just started hitting the shark with his surfboard," she said. "We're all still in shock right now, it hasn't quite hit us. We saw everything that happened to that poor little boy, and we just never thought that was something that could happen to our family."

At the same time, an 18-year-old man using a boogie board off Fernandina Beach on Florida's east coast, near the Georgia state line, suffered "small-to-moderate lacerations" to his right foot when a shark swam past, said Capt. John Hailey, of Nassau County Fire Rescue.

"He said he saw an object about three feet long roll and splash, and then his foot started hurting," Hailey said. The man, whose name was not released, identified the object as a shark.

Officials believe the shark's mouth was open and the teeth dragged across the man's leg, Hailey said.

The 18-year-old, who was vacationing with his parents from Cincinnati, Ohio, was taken by ambulance to Shands-Jacksonville Hospital. A spokeswoman there said he was treated and released.

In Escambia County, Waters told authorities he was paddling his board about 100 yards from shore to catch a wave, his left leg dangling in the water. He said he saw a school of small fish and a "dark shadow" just before his ankle was bitten.

He paddled back to shore where he called out for help. He was then taken by ambulance to Sacred Heart Hospital.

Authorities estimated Sunday's incident happened about six to eight miles from the area Jessie was attacked. The boy was wading in knee-deep water at the Gulf Islands National Seashore on July 6 when he was mauled by a 7-foot bull shark, which tore off his arm and bit a large portion of his thigh.

Jessie was in critical but stable condition Sunday at Sacred Heart Children's Hospital after his arm was reattached at Baptist Hospital, also in Pensacola, a statement said.

Despite the proximity of the incidents, Clark said authorities had no plans to issue official warnings about sharks in the water.

"There are sharks all over, up and down the whole entire Gulf Coast," Clark said. "How do you warn someone that there are sharks out there all the time anyway?"

Clark said swimmers and surfers must be aware that sharks tend to swim in the waters, sometimes very close to shore.

He said Sunday's incident highlights some danger signs: The surfer was in murky water, and he was swimming near a school of bait fish, a primary source of food for sharks.

"If you do encounter that, it would be wise probably to swim elsewhere," Clark said. "Just be mindful of your and their environment."

PENSACOLA BEACH, Florida (AP) -- A marine scientist said Saturday he doesn't think the shark that bit off an 8-year-old boy's arm attacked the youngster just because it was hungry.

"Something most likely was in the water at the same time ... normally food, chum or bait fish," Erich Ritter, a senior scientist for the Global Shark Attack File, part of the Shark Research Institute in Princeton, New Jersey.

Ritter believes Jessie Arbogast was in very murky water at dusk and that the youngster probably surprised the 7-foot, 200-pound bull shark.

"There was no way you could've seen the shark and there was no way the shark could see the boy," Ritter said.

Jessie was attacked at the Gulf Islands National Seashore on July 6, losing his right arm and suffering a deep wound to his right leg. He lost nearly all his blood, which caused damage to his organs, including his kidneys. Surgeons reattached his arm and he was scheduled for a skin graft on his leg on Monday.

He remained in a light coma and in critical condition at Sacred Heart Children's Hospital, doctors said.

"We are hopeful for a very good recovery," Dr. Ben Renfroe said Friday during a hospital news conference. "We are very excited about the progress he has made so far."

Ritter said he was confident he'll soon know what caused the shark to attack Jessie, by piecing together witness accounts of the attack, studying the scene and talking to the boy's doctors.

"The shark wound tells the story," said Ritter, who has spent 10 years studying sharks. "How hard the animal bites gives us a good idea about intention."

Ritter wants to interview Jessie's uncle, Vance Flosenzier of Mobile, Alabama, the man who wrestled the shark out of the water.

"He's the only person who can tell me how the shark behaved right after the bite," he said.

"If the animal moves around, he's searching, meaning the boy was just in his pattern. But if the animal was lethargic, that tells you basically he just happened to grab the boy's arm; the animal was confused."

"Once we narrow it down ... then we've won the battle because then we know what has to be done," Ritter said. "If we cannot nail it down to an external factor ... then we have a problem."

Boy `almost completely bled out'
By Associated Press |
Posted July 7, 2001, 11:34 PM EDT

PENSACOLA -- An 8-year-old boy was in critical condition Saturday after surgeons reattached one of his arms, retrieved from the gullet of a shark wrestled ashore by the child's uncle.

Three surgeons and a support team worked 11 hours in shifts to save the boy's right arm. It had been bitten off between the elbow and shoulder by what authorities think was a bull shark during an attack about 9:30 p.m. Friday.

Surgeons also repaired damage to the boy's right leg, which lost about a third of its lateral muscle mass.

Doctors said it was too soon to say whether the boy may have suffered neurological damage because of the severe blood loss.

"Amazingly, this was a clean cut," said Dr. Ian Rogers, a plastic surgeon who participated in the operation.

The shark attacked the boy as he swam at the Fort Pickens area of the Gulf Islands National Seashore in the Florida Panhandle.

The boy's uncle dragged the 7-foot shark to shore, where a ranger pried open its mouth with his police baton while a lifeguard pulled out the limb with forceps, National Park Service officials said.

"A ranger shot it in the head three times, which was enough to get the shark to loosen his jaws," Ranger John Bandurski said.

The boy's parents declined comment and did not want to identify the boy or themselves.

Chief Ranger J.R. Tomasovic said the boy had gone to the beach with an aunt and uncle, who were not identified, although a family member said they were from Mobile, Ala.

Immediately after the attack, relatives and emergency crews struggled to revive the boy about 250 yards west of Langdon Beach at the Gulf Islands preserve.

"It looked like the shark had been feeding on him," said tourist Guy Ogburn, 44, of Nashville.

"When I first got to him, his arm was off, his leg was wide open and there was no blood coming out," said Ogburn. "The aunt was giving him CPR, and the man was pumping on his heart."

Dr. Jack Tyson, a general surgeon, said the boy had no pulse or blood pressure when he arrived at the hospital.

The International Shark Attack File lists 79 confirmed shark attacks, 10 of them fatal, worldwide last year.

That was the highest yearly total in the four decades since unprovoked shark encounters have been recorded.

SYDNEY -- The identity of a human skull found inside a four-metre shark caught off Australia's east coast at the weekend remains a mystery.

Police said it is possible the skull may belong to either Arthur Apelt, 70, who went missing while hiking on Lord Howe Island on May 6 or 42-year-old Ross Symons, who disappeared from the Gold Coast on April 25. His boat was later found abandoned at sea. A post-mortem examination will be conducted later this week.

Fishermen made the grisly discovery when they were gutting a huge tiger shark they had caught near Lord Howe Island, which lies about 700km southeast of Brisbane, on Friday night. -- Sapa-AFP

EAST LONDON -- Beaches here were closed yesterday after a local surfer, on holiday from New Zealand where he is on a working vacation, was attacked by a great white shark at Eastern Beach.

David van Staden, 26, who was surfing with U/18 inter-provincial champion Natasha Bastenie, of Gonubie, escaped with 10 stitches to his leg.

Describing the attack, he said: "I first thought it was Natasha just fooling around, but suddenly I saw this thing swimming around me and I paddled as fast as I could to the shore."

Bastenie didn't waste any time in the water either, but it was only once they reached the shoreline that Van Staden realised the shark had bitten him. He was taken to hospital for treatment.

Marine services chief Willie Maritz said Van Staden was attacked by a three-metre great white shark judging by the damage to his surfboard.

"The shark just pushed him to check whether he was something to eat," he said, a procedure repeated in 90 percent of attacks.

Maritz warned surfers to be vigilant as the water was cool and clear -- just right to make a hungry great white shark hunt.

The presence of sardines in the water added to the excellent hunting conditions and "between now and July a lot of sharks will be camping in local shores".

When the Daily Dispatch visited Eastern Beach after the attack, several surfers were ignoring the beach-closed sign. -- DDR

JACKSONVILLE BEACH -- A shark bit a surfer's foot, then came back and grabbed the foot again.

John McCall told rescue workers he was bitten after getting off his board in about five feet of water. The shark, which he said was 4 to 5 feet long, bit him on the right foot.

"It was a pretty good bite. He said he was bit twice -- bit him once and they came back again," said Ryan Vermey, who was surfing with Mcall when he was attacked about 7 p.m. Thursday.

McCall was treated at a local hospital and released.

According to the International Shark Attack File at the University of Florida, there were 34 unprovoked shark attacks confirmed in Florida last year, out of 79 confirmed worldwide.

At least seven other shark attacks have been reported this year along Florida's Atlantic beaches.

2 attacked by sharks

By Sean Mussenden
of the Sentinel Staff
Posted April 13, 2001, 1:33 PM EDT

Rich McKay of the Sentinel Staff contributed to this story.

Orlando Sentinel

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Lifeguards closed the Atlantic Ocean to swimmers for about an hour in New Smyrna Beach Friday morning after sharks bit two young beachgoers.

The attacks on two surfers -- a 12-year-old and a 16-year-old whose names were not immediately available -- marked the fifth and sixth shark bites in a 48-hour period that began about noon Wednesday.

In all of 2000, Volusia recorded 12 shark attacks, by far the most of any Florida County.

All but one of the attacks occurred near the North New Smyrna Beach Jetty, just South of Ponce Inlet. The area is popular with surfers and fish, the latter of which officials said attract feeding sharks.

The evacuations are standard operating procedure after a shark attack or sighting, said Volusia County Beach Patrol Capt. Rob Horster. The waters were also evacuated after the attacks Wednesday and Thursday, he said.

Generally, the waters are cleared for between 30 minutes and an hour if the shark is no longer visible, Horster said.

The attacks occurred in the first warm days of beach season and just before a busy Easter weekend when visitors historically flock to the ocean.

PORT ELIZABETH -- East London businessman Dunstan Hogan, 46, was lucky to be alive yesterday after being mauled by a great white shark while surfing at Cape St Francis.

Speaking from his hospital bed, Hogan told how the shark attacked him twice during his ordeal.

Hogan, who used to be a Natal junior surfer, said he felt a "huge surge beneath me" and then a "vice-like grip on my upper leg" when the shark first struck.

When the shark pulled him and his board under the water, all he saw was a "big grey figure thrashing about".

Hogan has three big lacerations in his leg. Two are on the outside of his left leg just below the buttock, while another, which could have been fatal, is on the front of his leg.

Hogan, who lives in Nahoon and runs a consumer goods marketing agency, said he went surfing at about 7.45am at Seal Point.

"I had been there about an hour when I saw some surfers down at the beachbreak and I paddled down there."

"The shark bit my surfboard and my body together and took me about five to six feet under the water. I was still holding my board under the water when my feet hit the sand. I opened my eyes and saw this big figure thrashing about."

Hogan clambered onto his board and began paddling frantically for the shore.

"As I was paddling I saw this big thrashing of grey and then it came up from beneath and knocked me into the air."

Friend and fellow surfer Eric Stedman witnessed the attack from his house about 200 metres away.

Stedman rushed to the beach and met Hogan as he was emerging from the water.

He said there wasn't any extensive bleeding because Hogan's wetsuit had held the wounds closed.

He was taken to a doctor and then transferred to hospital in Port Elizabeth.

He said a nature conservation officer looked at the three large circular bites and was "pretty positive" the attack had been by a great white of between three and four metres.

Local sports physician and general practitioner Peter Schwartz, who used to head Surf Lifesaving South Africa, said Hogan's bite wounds were "the biggest bite marks I've seen".

The beach was closed after the attack, but by late yesterday afternoon surfers were again surfing at Seal Point. -- DDC

Shark kills Brazilian swimmer off city beach

SAO PAULO, Brazil (Reuters) -- A shark killed a young Brazilian man off a beach in the northeastern city of Recife, known for its shark attacks, officials said on Thursday.

The body of the 20-year-old student washed up on the city's famous Boa Viagem beach two days after he went swimming.

"The front of the thorax and all internal organs were ripped out," said Dr. Jorge Mota of the Institute of Legal Medicine. "The body was also missing a forearm, a part of the thigh and the face."

It was not immediately clear if the man was swimming beyond the coral reefs that run along the coast of the city, located 1,700 miles (2,700 km) northeast of Sao Paulo. Recife is the Portuguese word for reef.

The Pernambuco state government warns bathers not to go beyond the reefs. It banned surfing in the area in 1999 after a young man lost his two hands in a shark attack also off Boa Viagem.

It was the 33rd recorded shark attack on Pernambuco's southern coast and the 11th death since 1992.

The Fire Department said it had not identified the type of shark that attacked the swimmer.

University of Florida offers an amusing set of charts comparing the risk of shark attack to other, more common injury risks.

ORLANDO, Florida -- 79 shark attacks, 10 of them fatal, were reported around the world last year, the highest number in the four decades in which records have been kept.

The United States was No1 with 51 attacks, 34 of which occurred in Florida, according to a report released on Thursday by the International Shark Attack File. Australia had seven attacks, South Africa five, and the Bahamas four.

Florida also had the lone death in the US. Of the other fatal attacks, three occurred in Australia, two in Tanzania and one each in Fiji, Japan, New Guinea and New Caledonia, the French island territory in the South Pacific.

Florida "has a huge number of people in the water and the number of person-hours in the water is probably higher than anywhere in the world," said George Burgess, director of the file at the University of Florida at Gainesville.

"We have a tremendously long coastline with tropical waters, a huge native population and a bigger tourist population," Burgess said.

Even though there are fewer sharks than 20 years ago, more people are spending longer hours in the water and a growing number of tourists are swimming in exotic, unfamiliar locales, contributing to the jump in attacks, Burgess said. More attacks are being reported because of the Internet.

Sharks rarely attack people, but they sometimes mistake humans for fish or other prey.

"A shark comes in and is looking for prey. It bites, doesn't recognise the taste and keeps on going," said Gary Violetta, curator of fishes at Sea World, Orlando. "There is a much better chance of getting struck by lightning than being attacked by a shark."

People who come under attack should kick, punch or try to jab the shark in the eyes or gills, Burgess said. -- Sapa-AP

SYDNEY -- An Australian surfer who needed 80 stitches to close the gash a shark tore in his leg said yesterday he was doubly lucky to be alive.

Schoolteacher Mark Butler said from his hospital bed in Lismore, New South Wales, that when he saw the sea cloud with blood after the 2,5-metre bronze whaler's first bite he thought he was a goner.

Another premonition of death flooded over the father of three when he realised how badly injured his leg was.

But, after tying his surfboard rope around his leg to staunch the flow of blood, he managed to drag himself 500m to find help. "I was pretty weak by that stage," he said.

County and number of attacks:
Volusia 12 Palm Beach 6 Brevard 4 Monroe 3 Indian River 2 St. Johns 2 Lee 1
Manatee 1 Pinellas* 1 Santa Rosa 1 St. Lucie 1

8/31 attack in St. Petersberg FL-server was down and didnt get posted

Shark Bites 10th Victim

Attack Happened South Of Closed Area

Swimmer attacked by shark in Bahamas; 2nd in two weeks

Swimmers warned as hundreds of sharks gather

Sydney Morning Herald 8/15/01

Man attacked by shark has leg amputated

Update article (click)
The Associated Press (Orlando Sentinal)
Posted August 6, 2001, 9:09 AM EDT

Possible shark attack victim in good condition

Researcher tries to nail down cause of attack

Shark kills Brazilian swimmer off city beach

8/31 attack in St. Petersberg FL-server was down and didnt get posted

Shark Bites 10th Victim

Attack Happened South Of Closed Area

Swimmer attacked by shark in Bahamas; 2nd in two weeks

Swimmers warned as hundreds of sharks gather

Sydney Morning Herald 8/15/01

Man attacked by shark has leg amputated

Update article (click) The Associated Press (Orlando Sentinal) Posted August 6, 2001, 9:09 AM EDT

Possible shark attack victim in good condition

Researcher tries to nail down cause of attack

Shark kills Brazilian swimmer off city beach

Update article (click)
The Associated Press (Orlando Sentinal)
Posted August 6, 2001, 9:09 AM EDT