INJURED – 3 January 2012 — North Avoca Beach, New South Wales, Australia – surfer bitten

A surfer is taken to hospital after suffering minor shark bite wounds to his right wrist and forearm while surfing late in the evening at North Avoca Beach, near Gosford, New South Wales, Australia

A 28-year-old surfer – name not released —  was bitten on the his right wrist and forarm by a juvenile white shark while surfing at North Avoca Beach, near Gosford,  New South Wales, Australia. The incident happened about 8pm on Tuesday 3 January 2012.

According to an eye witness, the shark bit onto his right arm while he was lying on his surfboard. He used his left hand to hit the shark on the snout and it swam away. He suffered a 5cm wound to his right wrist and forearm.

He paddled to shore and was treated by paramedics before being taken to Gosford Hospital where he was reported to be in  satisfactory condition.

Sources:

BigPond News

ABC News

PIC Source
Video screen grab from BBC News

FATAL – 22 October 2011 – Rottnest Island, Western Australia – diver attacked

A 32-year-old diver (name not reported) was killed by a three-metre great white while diving 500 metres north of Rottnest Island, Western Australia.

Initial reports are quite thin. All they say is that witnesses on the dive boat saw a large amount of bubbles before the man surfaced with ‘horrific’ and ‘obviously fatal’ injuries.

Two people on the boat described the shark as a 3-metre great white.

It is the third fatal shark attack off the west coast of Australia in two months.

The blog will be updated when we have more details.

Sources:

The Guardian
Channel News Asia

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

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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.

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

UPDATE – 2 INJURED in separate attacks in 2 days — Primorsky Krai region, Sea of Japan, Russian Far East – 17, 18 August 2011

This is an update to the original posts
1. http://wp.me/pMcbs-f2  – 17 August 2011

2.  http://wp.me/pMcbs-fd – 18 August 2011

Both attacks took place in the Primorsky Krai region, Sea of Japan, Russian Far East. The first one in Telyakovsky Bay and the second one a day later about 30 miles away off Zheltukhin island.

The first victim, who had both his arms bitten off below the elbow, was 25-year-old Denis Udovenko.

He was swimming with his wife. They were swimming out to a small rock formation known locally as Yearning Heart Island.

“It was only about 300 feet,” his wife told Interfax news agency. “About halfway there, Denis noticed something in the water and screamed, ‘Swim faster, it’s a shark.’ ”

“He beat it on the nose, and it heaved him up and then down,” she said.

“Then the shark threw him to the surface.”

They were picked by crew in a boat.

The health ministry said in statement that Udovenko lost a lot of blood and both his arms below the elbow. But he survived.

————

The second victim was 16-year-old Valery Sidorovich. He was attacked the following day about 30 miles away. He suffered a serious bite wound to the thigh.

Local scientists believe it was most likely a great white, based on witness accounts.

The New York Times reports:

Russians’ blasé attitude toward danger is a source of national pride, and despite the ban on swimming, local news media reported Thursday that beachgoers continued to take to the water.

The local branch of the Emergency Situations Ministry, perhaps expecting that many would flout the ban, posted a shark attack survival guide on its Web site.

“If a shark tries to attack you, fight it off; try to hit it in the eyes and gills,” read one advisory. “Remember,” read another, “panic could lead to tragic results.”

Source:

New York Times