FATAL – 25 December 2012 – Second Beach, Port St Johns, Eastern Cape, South Africa – swimmer attacked

Swimmers at Second Beach, Port St Johns, South Africa – the day after the fatal shark attack.

Liya Sibili, 20, was killed by a shark while swimming at Second Beach, Port St Johns, Eastern Cape, South Africa. The incident took place on Christmas Day 25 December 2012.

The beach was crowded with holidaymakers for the Christmas vacation. A witness on the beach said he saw the shark swim among the bathers.

“People were trying to get out the water after the lifeguards spotted
something in the water. I saw the tail of something really big grab the boy, the water started boiling and later it went red,” he was quoted as saying.

According to press reports people refused to listen to lifeguards who asked them not to enter the water after the attack. They went back in regardless – while lifeguards continued to search for the body. It was not recovered.

Second Beach is now notorious for fatal shark attacks. There have been seven deadly attacks in the past 7 years. The two previous fatal shark attacks took place on 15 January 2012 (SharkAttackMonitor report) and 15 January 2011 (SharkAttackMonitor report).

There was no report of what type of shark it was and no other details were reported.

Sources:
Daily Disptach

PIC Source:
Daily Disptach

INJURED – 5 July 2012 – Jongensfontein, Western Cape, South Africa – surfer attacked

“I couldn’t see the shark directly but I could see its fins thrashing in the water. Its mouth was latched onto the surfboard. I could see some blood sprays but couldn’t tell how badly he was injured.”

A Facebook pic of Jacques Mostert who suffered serious wounds to his leg from a shark attack at Jongensfontein, South Africa

Jacques Mostert, 29, suffered serious bite wounds to his leg when a 4.5 metre shark attacked him while he was surfing at Jongensfontein near Still Bay, Western Cape, South Africa.

Speaking from his hospital bed, he is quoted as saying:

“I was about to get out of the water, only about 15m into the surf, when I saw something swimming past me.

“At first I thought it was a dolphin, but then I realised I was in trouble.

“Then I just felt a hard hit on my side.

“It was as if a crazy dog had bitten into me because it started shaking my leg in the same way.

The shark let go and went under water.

“I managed to get a look at it and saw it was massive.

“I was really scared. I’m very religious, so I believe a calmness came over me and I decided to stop panicking about something I couldn’t change.

“This was when a large wave came and I was able to paddle myself back to shore.

“The shark bit through the ligaments and nerves in the top part of my leg and my knee, so I can’t move my foot. I don’t know how to thank everyone that helped me.”

Mostert’s friends helped him from water

A National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) spokesperson said Mostert was found on the beach suffering from two serious cuts to his left upper leg and knee. He had lost a large amount of blood, but remained conscious.

He was treated at the scene and then admitted to the intensive care unit of Mossel Bay’s Bayview Hospital where he as reported in a serious but stable condition.

Another surfer who was about 5 metres from Mostert at the time of the attack is quoted as saying:

“We were about 20 to 30m from the shore… I heard screams coming from behind me and… I thought: shark attack.

“I couldn’t see the shark directly but I could see its fins thrashing in the water. Its mouth was latched onto the surfboard. I could see some blood sprays but couldn’t tell how badly he was injured.”

He said the shark then released the board and Mostert, bleeding badly tried to make his way back to the beach on what remained of his board. He said muscle tissue was clearly visible in the deep gash on his thigh.

“He was losing blood fast and something needed to be done or he would’ve died on the beach.”

He and Mostert’s friends used two belts and a torn waterproof vest as a tourniquet, and called for help.

“He was still losing a lot of blood and we wanted to get him to a hospital immediately. We tried to move him on to my board and carry him to my bakkie [pick up truck] but, as soon as we tried to lift him, the blood started gushing out.”

The NSRI arrived 15 minutes later and stabilised Mostert who was then taken by ambulance to hospital.

The species of shark was not confirmed.

Sources:
IOL
The Telegraph

PIC Source:
IOL

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

FATAL – 19 April 2012 – Caves surf spot, Koeel Bay, Cape Town, South Africa – surfer attacked

Koeel Bay, outside Cape Town, South Africa - the site of a fatal shark attack on a surfer.

A brief report from my friend Quentin Fuller: There has been a fatal shark attack on a surfer at Caves surf spot at Koeel Bay (Kogel Bay) outside Cape Town in South Africa. Details are still a bit sketchy, but is seems it was a great white and another surfer who witnessed the attack told Quentin that the body washed up on the beach.

The attack happened after noon local time (about 2 hours ago) on Thursday 19 April 2012.

We await more details.

PIC source

Global surfers

FATAL – 15 January 2012 – Second Beach, Port St Johns, Eastern Cape, South Africa – surfer attacked

This surfer died after trying to fight off a shark attack at Second Beach, Port St Johns, South Africa

A 25-year-old surfer (name not released) was killed by an unidentified shark while surfing with friends at Second Beach, Port St Johns, Eastern Cape, South Africa. The incident happened about 3pm on Sunday 15 January 2012.

According to a report in the Daily Dispatch the surfer sustained severe injuries to his chest and arms after fighting off the shark  with his surfboard.

According to the report, he fought the shark for at least 5 minutes before being pulled from the water by a surfer and other swimmers. Lifeguards and a doctor at the beach at the time treated his wounds before emergency paramedics arrived. He died on route to hospital.

An eye witness was quoted as saying:

“I saw the fin of the shark and  as I told people to get out of the  water I heard him scream and  within seconds the water had  turned red.”

“He had a surfboard with him and he used it to wrestle off the shark.

“Lifeguards started blowing their whistles, but by that time there was blood everywhere.

“I have never seen so much blood in my life. I am not sure if I will ever be able to swim there again.”

According to the newspaper, the surfer called on others in the water to get out while he tried to fight off the shark with his board.

National Sea Rescue Institute  spokesman said the sea at the time had poor visibility and the water was very warm.

There has been a spate of shark attacks at this beach in the past few years – several of them fatal.

Sources:

Daily Dispatch
IOL

PIC Source
Daily Dispatch

INJURED – 28 October 2011 – uShaka Marine World, Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa – aquarist bitten

A brief report on South Africa’s East Coast Radio (ECR) quotes Dr Mark Penning,  the CEO of uShaka Marine World in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa as saying one of the divers at the marine theme park was bitten on the arm by a ragged tooth shark while doing routine work in the aquarium. The incident happened in the morning of 28 October 2011.

“Luckily he’s a tough guy. He’s in hospital, and he’s being very well looked after,” he said.

“This is not an aggressive shark, it’s not a species of shark that will deliberately go out and hunt a diver, but the animal got scared and it lashed out, and unfortunately his arm was in the way at that time.”

No other details were reported.

Source:
East Coast Radio

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

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