FATAL – 14 July 2012 — Wedge Island, north of Lancelin, Western Australia – surfer attacked

“By the time I got out there half of him had been taken and the shark was circling.”

Ben Linden was killed by a shark while surfing off Wedge Island in Western Australia

Ben Linden, 24, died from his wounds after being attacked by a shark while surfing about 4 km south of Wedge Island, north of Lancelin, Western Australia. The incident happened around 9am on 14 July 2012.

Linden was reportedly with a friend when the attack happened. The attack is believed to be by a great white shark.

A Fisheries Department spokesperson was quoted as saying:

“The two people were in the water surfing or waiting for a wave when the victim was attacked by a shark.”

He said two other surfers, one on a jet ski and the other being towed came over to help when they saw a commotion in the water.

He said the man’s friend and the others surfers were not in a position to help and went back to shore and contacted the police.

He said Linden’s body was not recovered.

The guy on the jetski was quoted as saying:

“I was towing my mate on the back of the jetski and in front of us I just saw a guy get attacked by a shark and I just took my mate straight to the shore and went straight out and there was just blood everywhere and a massive, massive white shark circling the body.

“By the time I got out there half of him had been taken and the shark was circling.

“I tried to lean off the side and pull him on the back, but as I did that, the shark came back and nudged the jet ski to try to knock me off.

“When I came back the second time, he took the rest of him. I just thought about his family and if he had kids. I just wanted to get him to shore. I gave it everything I had.”

Sources:
Illawarra Mercury
Daily Telegraph

PIC Source:
Daily Telegraph

FRIGHTENED – 20 June 2012 — Mullaloo Beach north of Perth, Western Australia – surf skier attacked

Martin Kane, 62, examines his surf ski that was bitten in half by a 3-metre great white shark, flinging him into the water.

Martin Kane, 62, escaped injury, but was badly shaken when a 3-metre great white shark attacked his surf ski, biting it in half. The incident happened around  7.15am on Wednesday 20 June 2012.

He was paddling with a group of 4 other surf lifesavers about 150 metres off Mullaloo Beach north of Perth, Western Australia.

He was flung into the water but was rescued by a friend who was in the group of paddlers.

He said it felt like being rammed by a jet ski and made a loud exploding noise.

“I seriously thought it was a row of dolphins smashing into the ski.

“What really confused me was the extent of the noise and the crunching sound, it really surprised me, I really didn’t know what it was until I saw the fin and realised it was a shark.

“Because it is a sealed unit, when the shark bit it, it went off like an explosion.

“Soon as I saw his tail and thrashing around with the ski coming right out of the water, I said it’s time to get out of here so in defiance I threw my paddle at him and started to swim away.”

He told reporters he suspected stringers that run down the length of the ski and control the rudders saved his life.

“I suspect that its teeth were caught up in that and it was too bothered trying to get rid of the ski to chase me, so I’m very, very happy that was the case.

“I’m just very lucky to be here, very lucky to be able to see my grandkids again.”

Sources:
ABC News
Sydney Morning Herald

PIC Source:
ABC News

UPDATE to FATAL shark attack on surfer at KOEEL BAY, outside Cape Town, South Africa – 19 April 2012

The shark responsible for the attack – shot by Sven Thoresen shortly after the attack and uploaded to Twitter. @sven110975

It was like someone pushed a button to turn the sea from a clear blue to dark red, that’s how quickly he was losing blood from the wound.

David Lilienfeld, 20, was killed by a shark while bodyboarding at Koeel Bay (Kogel Baai), near Cape Town, South Africa. The shark is presumed to be a great white 4-5 metres long. There were two sharks in the area when the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) boat arrived on the scene.

The attack took place at a surf spot called Caves at Koeel Bay in the afternoon of Thursday 19 April 2012.

Lilienfeld was a Springbok bodyboarder and placed 5^th in the South African bodyboarding championships in 2011.

David Lilienfeld surfing at Camps Bay, Cape Town

A witness to the attack said the shark repeatedly attacked Lilienfeld. His leg was severed in the ordeal as he tried to fight off the shark with his bodyboard.

Lilienfled was pulled from the water by his brother. He was confirmed dead on the scene by rescue personnel.

A witness who was had just come in from a surf and was on the beach at the time of the attack told the press the surf was “really fun”. He had gone in and was sitting on the beach when “I saw a huge dorsal fin of a shark surface near to the two bodyboarders, and close in on them.”

He said Lilienfeld tried to fight off the shark by pushing his bodyboard between himself and the great white, but “the shark kept coming back, a second and I think a third time, before it got his leg. It was like someone pushed a button to turn the sea from a clear blue to dark red, that’s how quickly he was losing blood from the wound.”

“I think it took about 8 minutes to get the young bodyboarder to shore, but you could already tell by that time that he’d lost a lot of blood.”

The witness told ZigZag that he had been surfing at Koeel Bay for the past 19 years “but something doesn’t feel right there anymore”.

“I’ve got a feeling I am going to regret coming down to the beach for this surf for a long time. The visual memory of the bodyboarder being attacked is going to be stuck in the back of my mind and although I’ve often surfed Caves alone, I don’t think I will be doing that anymore – at least for a long time to come.”

“It was a horror show. It looked like something from the Jaws movie.”

Chumming debate
A serious debate that has been ongoing for some time about chumming — throwing blood and guts into — the water in the vicinity where the attack took place  to attract sharks for shark cage diving and documentary filming has come to the fore in South Africa following this tragic incident. For more on the debate read this article in ZigZag.

The City of Cape Town released a report of the attack – in an effort to clarify exacty what happened and also weigh in on the chumming debate.
Report and Review of Events at Kogel Bay “Caves” After Great White Shark Attack

Sources:

News24

ZigZag

Wavescape

PIC Source:
Sixty40

Shark pic via ZigZag|
Shot by Sven Thoresen and uploaded to Twitter. @sven110975

SHAKEN – 20 October 2011 — South Beach State Park, Newport, Oregon, US – surfer attacked

Bobby Gumm's board with a 20-inch shark bite taken out of it.

Great White Shark Attacks Surfer from News-Times Newspaper on Vimeo.

Bobby Gumm (age not reported) was apparently flung 10 foot in the air when a shark attacked him while he was surfing. He was uninjured but the shark took a huge bite out of his board. From the size of the bite – about 20 inches — shark experts reckon it was 16-20 foot long and believed to be a great white.

The incident took place on Thursday afternoon 20 October 2011 at South Beach, Newport, Oregon, United States.

A friend in the water with Gumm when the shark attacked is quoted as saying:

“Today, we all felt something out there and I see big sea lions racing past me, and I thought it was a safe thing but it really wasn’t.

“All of a sudden my friend said ‘help’ and it looked like piranha just churning the water,” Clifford said, “It just looked like a frenzy, then a two foot fin in the water, and then it lifted my friend 10 feet up into the air and I wanted to help him but it was a frenzy, so we just paddled in and made sure he was okay.

“I was scared for my life. I’ve never seen anything like that. It was like witnessing an almost murder.”

Gumm and the three friends he was surfing with paddled back to shore unharmed.

“It felt like eternity, it was in slow motion. It breaks about two football fields to see, and it takes about a football field of no waves to get in, and that was the slowest time in my life.”

There was no quotes from Gumm and no other details were reported.

Sources:

KPTV

KGW

PIC Source:
KGW

FATAL – 10 October 2011 – Cottesloe Beach, Western Australia – swimmer disappears

It is believed a shark took swimmer Bryn Martin, 64, while he was swimming off Cottesloe Beach, Western Australia on Monday morning 10 October 2011. He disappeared while taking his regular early morning swim. His body has not been recovered.

His bathing costume was recovered with bite marks consistent with a 3-metre great white shark, according to press reports.

At the time of this blog post police were searching for his body and had classified it as a recovery operation, rather than a rescue operation.

Martin was last seen by a friend swimming out past the pylon in front of the Indiana Tea Rooms at about 8am on Monday morning.  He was a couple of hundred metres offshore when he disappeared.

Further details are awaited.

Sources:

Perth Now

INJURED – 26 September 2011 – Fish Hoek, Cape Town, South Africa – swimmer attacked

Michael Cohen, 43, had his right leg bitten off and part of his left leg below the knee by a shark, while swimming off Fish Hoek beach outside Cape Town on Wednesday 26 September 2011.

According to reports he had ignored warnings by shark spotters not to enter the water as three sharks had been spotted close to the beach. Fish Hoek beach is in False Bay, a renowned great white breeding ground.

According to press reports, at around 12:25 on Wednesday, the mountain shark spotter saw a swimmer enter the water near the Clovelly Corner area of the beach. The spotter tried to sound the alarm, but due to an city-wide electricity failure, the alarm did not sound.

Spotters first sighted two great white sharks after 09:00 on Wednesday. The alarm was sounded, the beach was closed and the white flag was raised. Once the sharks had moved back out of the bay, the red warning flag was raised as per standard safety protocol. At 10.50am shark spotters sighted two great white sharks for a second time in Fish Hoek. The shark siren was again sounded, the beach was cleared of swimmers and the shark flag was raised.

At around 12.25 a witness saw a large shark “casually and slowly” approach Cohen, who was swimming parallel to the beach in a southerly direction, near the brown water coming from the Silvermine River mouth. The shark approached him from behind. Cohen appeared unaware of the shark’s presence.

“The shark lunged for the swimmer, shook him once, then let go and moved off 5m to 10m away.”

Cohen was pulled ashore by two men who had seen the incident unfolding from the shore. They waded in through the surf to reach Cohen who was by then struggling in the sea red with his blood.

On the beach one of the shark spotters applied a tourniquet and raised his leg to stem the bleeding. Emergency services arrived shortly afterwards and he was airlifted by helicopter to Constantiaberg Hospital. He was reported in stable condition.

Sources:
News 24

FATAL – 4 September 2011 – Boneyards, Bunker Bay, Cape Naturaliste, West Australia – body boarder attacked

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=h&vpsrc=0&ll=-33.552268,115.038013&spn=0.050071,0.072956&z=13&output=embed
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A 21-year-old body boarder (name not reported) died after a shark bit off his legs. He was body boarding on Sunday 4 September 2011 with a close friend and about 5 other surfers at a surf spot called Boneyards at Bunker Bay on Cape Naturaliste in West Australia. Witnesses reckon the shark was a 4.5 metre great white.

According to media reports he died before his friend could pull him ashore. He had lost both his legs in the attack.

A police spokesperson was quoted as saying:

“Out of nowhere it would appear that the young fellow has been taken by a shark. No one saw the shark itself but they’ve observed the young fellow’s body in the water in amongst some blood.

“His mate and someone else that was surfing with him have pulled the body ashore, emergency services have been notified, but unfortunately the nature of the injuries mean the young fellow was deceased before he was pulled from the water.

“You have to take your hat off to the young fellow who was surfing with him and his mate for bringing him ashore, the nature of his injuries were significant.”

He said it was perfect shark conditions. “It was dark and gloomy water, overcast skies, light rain falling, there was whale action in the bay and some seals about.”

The beach was packed with people at the time of the attack. According to a witness the shark came up beneath him, grabbed the body boarder and pulled him below the surface.

There is a seal colony around the point at Cape Naturaliste and it is thought the shark may have mistaken the body boarder for a seal.

This post may be updated later with more detail, if we get it.

Sources:
The West Australian
The Daily Mail

WITNESS REPORT – FATAL attack on surfer at Lookout Beach, Plettenberg Bay, South Africa — 23 August 2011

This is a witness report to the fatal shark attack originally reported here.

Tim van Heerden, 49 was surfing with friends at Lookout Beach, Plettenberg Bay, South African, on 23 August 2011, when he was bitten twice on the leg and groin by what is believed to be a great white.

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The other surfers managed to bring to shore but he died from blood loss despite the efforts of doctors to revive him.

One of his friends, Tim Clarke, who was on the beach at the time of the attack told media what he saw.

“He was lying on the board paddling back to the surf after a ride when I heard him scream as the shark hit him the first time and pulled him off the board. Tim was trying to climb back on when the shark came around and hit him again. I only saw the fin. Tim disappeared under the water for a moment and, when he came up a few seconds later, the sea around him turned red.”

A surfer, Cameron Payne, who was in the water at the time was quoted as saying:

“I was about 20 metres away from Tim. I was just lining up a wave when I heard one of the two Australian guys surfing with us shout ‘shark!’.

“I looked across and saw the shark’s tail thrashing as it churned up the water around him. There was a lot of blood.”

Another friend of Van Heerden’s, Charlie Reitz, who swam out to help the injured surfer back to shore, said he was just drifting, still clinging to his board after the attack.

“He was in really bad shape when I reached him. I think he had already bled out. He was not focusing and his eyes were glazed over.”

Another surfer on the beach at the time, Lloyd Chapman was quoted as saying:

“From the amount of blood, it was evident that the main femoral artery was severed. It looked like the femur was also broken.”

Payne and Reitz helped bring Van Heerden back to shore on his board and Payne told media he “didn’t want to look at the wound because it was really bad”.

Van Heerden had lost consciousness by the time volunteers and emergency rescue arrived at the scene shortly after the attack around 9am.

A National Sea Rescue Institute spokesperson was quoted as saying:

Van Heerden “was on the rocks after being brought out by fellow surfers. Extensive resuscitation efforts commenced at the scene, in the ambulance and at the hospital, but he was declared dead by doctors”.

Source:
IOL

 

UPDATE – FATAL shark attack on surfer at Lookout Beach, Plettenberg Bay, South Africa — 23 August 2011

This is an update to the original blog post of this shark attack on Tuesday 23 August 2011.

The 49-year-old surfer who died from a shark attack at Lookout Beach, Plettenberg Bay, South Africa, has been identified as Tim van Heerden. It’s reported he was pulled from the water by fellow surfers. He sustained major wounds to his thigh and groin. Doctors were unable to resuscitate him.

Source:
News24

FATAL — 23 August 2011 – Lookout Beach, Plettenberg Bay, South Africa – surfer attacked

A 49-year-old surfer (name not reported) has died from wounds to his leg after being bitten by what is believed to be a great white, while surfing at Lookout Beach in Plettenberg Bay, South Africa. The incident at 9.11am on Tuesday 23 August 2011.

According to the brief report, witnesses said the man’s leg was badly injured. The National Sea Rescue Institute said doctors spent several hours trying to save the man, but failed.

ZigZag reports: He saw the shark, which from reports was not a big shark, and shouted to warn the others. The shark then turned on him, and took him first on the top of the leg, possibly severing the femoral artery. It then pulled him under and took him on the bottom of the leg.

No other details were reported.

We await more details and will provide an update later.

Sources:
News24

ZigZag