FATAL – 29 April 2017 – Pointe au Sel, Reunion – bodyboarder attacked

Adrien Dubosc, 28

Adrien Dubosc, 28, was bitten in the right thigh and groin area by a shark (species not identified – though it was likely a bull shark or tiger shark) while body boarding with two friends at Pointe au Sel, on Reunion island in the Indian Ocean. The attack happened on Saturday morning 29 April 2017.

Pointe au Sel is a short distance south of the well-known St Leu surf spot.

The attack came two months after one of his best friends, Alexandre Naussac, 26, was killed by a shark at a nearby beach.

Dubosc was a shark enthusiast and member of Shark Watch Patrol, whose job it is to keep an eye out for sharks while people surf and swim. The Shark Watch Patrol was set up as the number of shark attacks on Reunion has increased dramatically with 21 attacks, nine of them fatal, in the past six years.

 

 

“The young man was in the water with two friends, when a shark attacked him, biting his right thigh, and his groin area.

“The victim was pulled out of the water, and emergency workers arrived very quickly. Despite cardiac massage, he died within half an hour of the attack,” police were quoted as saying.

 

Sources:

The Morning Bulletin

The Sun

New Zealand Herald

Photo: Facebook

 

INJURED – 28 August 2013 – Ponce de Leon Inlet, Volusia County, Florida, USA – boogie boarder bitten

Riley Breihan, 11, suffered minor lacerations to the lower left calf and heel from a shark bite.

An 11-year-old girl, Riley Breihan, was bitten by a small shark while boogie boarding in knee deep water. She suffered minor lacerations to the lower left calf and heel.

She is told WESH TV after the incident: “I just think it is a miracle that none of my toes came off or like a chunk of meat came off.”

She said it hurt and she ran out of the water. Bystanders scooped her up and her grandparents took her to the hospital.

Doctors pulled out a small shark tooth embedded in her leg.

Source:
WESH TV

PIC Source:
WESH TV

INJURED – 2 June 2012 — Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, United States – body boarder bitten

Ryan Orellana-Maczynski’s shark bite wound. The photo was taken shortly after the incident off Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, United States,

Ryan Orellana-Maczynski, 25, was bitten on the left foot by a small shark while body boarding near 2nd Avenue Pier, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, United States.

The incident happened about 7.45pm on Saturday 2 June 2012.

“I was sitting on the waves so my feet were dangling and I felt something tug my foot. It was not forceful by any means, but I just felt something there,” he said.

He told media he fought the shark for about 30 seconds and jabbed it in the eyes which made it release its grip.

Some others on the beach helped him from the water. The bite severed an artery, according to Orellana-Maczynski, and the wound was bleeding a lot.

Orellana-Maczynski had surgery on his foot and was expected to make a full recovery.

It wasn’t reported where he was taken to hospital or what type of shark it was.

Sources:
Daily Mail
WBTV

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

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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

INJURED – 19 July 2011 — Ocracoke Beach, Ocracoke Island, North Carolina, US – boogie boarder attacked

Lucy Mangum, 6, shark attack victim speaks to reporters from her hospital room

Lucy Mangum, 6, was bitten by a shark (species not reported) on the lower right leg and her foot, while Boogie boarding in shallow water (reportedly only 18 inches deep) with her father and mother. The incident happened around 5pm on Tuesday 19 July 2011 at Ocracoke Beach, Ocracoke Island, North Carolina, in the US. The island is a national park in the Outer Banks.

“I heard her scream so I immediately turned towards her and at that point saw the shark right next to her,” her mom told media. “I ran over to her and at this point it hadn’t really crossed my mind that she had been bitten, I just wanted to get her out of the water… I saw that she was injured pretty badly… it was a pretty big gash.”

Her father, Craig, who was swimming further out said: “I ran over and … we got her up on the beach and we had Jordan [Lucy’s mom] move her hand and the entire lower leg… filleted itself open… It was a pretty significant wound and I noticed there was an arterial bleed there and I just realized right away we were going to have to get her to a medical center.”

“I only saw its tail,” Lucy told media.

Lucy was airlifted to Pitt County Memorial Hospital in Greenville.

Doctors said Lucy suffered extensive damage to muscle, ligaments and blood vessels but luckily avoided major nerve damage. She is expected to make a full recovery.

Sources:
ABC News
Online Journal

PIC source:
still from ABC News video

INJURED – 26 June 2011 — North Topsail Beach, North Carolina, US – body boarder / wader bitten

Cassidy Cartwright, 10, was bitten on her lower right leg by a shark while standing in 3.5 feet of water at North Topsail Beach, North Carolina, US. The unprovoked attack happened on Sunday 26 June 2011. The species of shark is not known.

She was playing with her bodyboard when the shark bit her and dragged her down.

“It pulled me down, and it hurt. I just thought it was somebody messing around, and I found out that it wasn’t ‘cause it pulled me down again,” she was quoted as saying.

“My leg was cut wide open and it was bleeding really badly,” she said.

She was brought ashore by her mother with the help of a friend. They wrapped a towel around the wound. Paramedics called a helicopter to airlift her to UNC Children’s Hospital in Chapel Hill.

Her mother said that at first she thought she had stepped on something in the water. She fell once. Then she fell again … then she saw all the blood in the water.

“Together we got her out, but when we pulled [her] out of the water her leg was wide open and it was just… a lot of blood,” her mother was quoted as saying.

“At that point I guess we assumed it was a shark bite, but it wasn’t until we got to UNC [where] they found a shark tooth in her leg,” she said. Doctors found the tip of a shark tooth in the wound.

The shark attack severed Cassidy’s Achilles tendon and two others and took a piece out of her ankle bone.

She underwent five hours of surgery. She is expected to walk again but whether she will have full use of her ankle is uncertain, according to her mother.

In a strange twist of fate, her mother bought the boogie board the day they arrived at North Topsail Beach from a store named Shark Attack. Her other took a photo of her daughter and a friend in the mouth of a shark model at the store.

Sources:

ABC News
Goerie.com

PIC Source: still from video on Goerie.com