The shark first bit Struwig on the right leg and foot and then paused before biting him on the chest and shoulder and dragging him underwater to the sand bottom, thrashing as it swam down. The surfers reckon he was underwater for 20-25 seconds.
Chintsa in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. The site of the shark attack on a surfer.
Denver Struwig, 27 suffered lacerations to his upper left arm and right leg and foot from a shark attack while surfing with two friends at Chintsa East, near East London in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. The attack was reportedly by a 3-metre bull shark, locally known as Zambezi sharks. The incident happened around 11am on Friday 22 July 2011.
A full account of the shark attack is reported on TheBombSurf.com
The attack was witnessed by a two other surfers in the water, one just 5 metres away (who had an electrical shark repellent ‘shark pod’ attached to his board). The shark first bit Struwig on the right leg and foot and then paused before biting him on the chest and shoulder and dragging him underwater to the sand bottom, thrashing as it swam down. The surfers reckon he was underwater for 20-25 seconds. They say they thought that that was the end of Struwig, but then the shark let him go and swam off.
Struwig floated to the surface and the other two surfers paddled over, put him on his board and the three of them made their way back to the beach.
The surfer with the shark pod reckons it was most likely this device that made the shark swim off.
Struwig’s family on the beach, who had witnessed the attack, emergency rescue services. They staunched Struwig’s bleeding wounds with towels while they waited for paramedics.
According to TheBombSurf report Struwig received a bad wound on his right shin, a deep laceration on his inner thigh which narrowly missed the femoral artery. He had a laceration and row of puncture wounds on his abdomen just below the ribs and a laceration on his left shoulder just above his shoulder blade.
He was taken to St Dominic’s Hospital, East London and was expected to make a full recovery.
Sources:
PIC: Google Maps
# Sri Lanka Beach House #
