BUMPED – 11 August 2013 – The Washout, Folly Beach, South Carolina, USA – surfer’s board bitten

Surfer talks to media after his board was bitten by a bull shark during a surf contest.

A 10-year-old surfer (not immediately named in press reports) had his board bitten by what is presumed to be a 6-8 foot bull shark while surfing in a contest at The Washout on Folly Beach in South Carolina. The incident happened around 5.30pm on Sunday 11 August 2013.

A witness on the beach said the shark got tangled in his leash. The shark then latched onto his board. The boy managed to undo his leash and swim away from the board. He was not injured.

Two other surfers swam out an helped the boy to shore.

The contest — the S.C. Governor’s Cup of Surfing – was stopped and postponed to September.

Sources:

Transworld Surf
The State
WISTV

PIC Source:
10-year-old surfer talks to media.
Screen grab from video on WISTV

INJURED – 10 September 2012 – Vava’u, Tonga – diver attacked

Kylie Maquire recovers in hospital in Tonga following a shark attack.

Treasure hunter Kylie Maguire, 29, suffered serious wounds to her buttocks and thighs from a shark attack in waters off Tonga.

Doctors who treated Kylie in Tonga estimated the length of the shark to be 3m, with teeth about 25mm across and a 40-45cm bite circumference. The shark is thought to be a bull shark.

The incident occurred on Monday 10 September 2012.

The captain of the treasure seeking boat said Kylie had paddled off with a friend in an inflatable kayak from the anchored boat near the Treasure Island Resort in Vava’u about 4pm. The shark attack occurred shortly after this. It is not clear if she was swimming or diving when the attack occurred.

She was treated initially at a hospital in Tonga and then airlifted to Brisbane for further treatment after one of the wounds became infected.

Sources:
Whitsunday Times

ABC

PIC Source:
BlueTreasure

INJURED – 29 May 2012 – Boca de la Leña, La Unión, Mexico – diver bitten

Benigno Medina Navarrete recovers in hospital after losing his left hand from a shark bite.

Benigno Medina Navarrete,  46, lost his left hand when a shark bit him while he was fishing. He nearly lost his entire left forearm in the attack while was diving with his friend off Boca de la Leña in La Unión, Mexico. It is not clear if he was spearfishing. Some reports say he was fishing, some say he was diving.

His friend helped him ashore, placed a tourniquet on his arm and then took him to Hospital General de Lázaro Cárdenas where he underwent emergency surgery.

He told media he is thankful his friend got him to hospital quicky which saved his life.

He said: “I felt a sharp pain, but I held strong … and I asked God, ‘Help me … I still want see my children and my family.'”

The incident happened around 9am on 29 May 2012.

Some reports say it was a bull shark about 3 metres long.

Sources:

El Sol De Zamora
Diario ABC
Despertar de la Costa

PIC Source:
Diario ABC

INJURED – 23 May 2012 — Jacksonville Beach, Florida, US — surfer bitten

Chad Renfro in hospital with bandaged foot after his shark bite wound was stitched up

Chad Renfro, 22, was bitten on the foot by what is believed to be either a 4-5 foot Bull or Lemon shark while surfing off south Jacksonville Beach, Florida in the United States.

He said he was paddling to catch a wave when he felt something bite into his left foot.

“Immediately I knew what it was, so I just paddled back in as fast as I could — caught the next wave in.” He hobbled ashore with blood going everywhere, he told media.

“I was sitting there and people kept looking at me.”

“I was trying to get someone to help me, and then one girl had walked over and I told her to call 911, and then I saw the lifeguards drive by, and so I just hollered for them and they came over.”

Renfro had two or three cuts on one foot and his ankle. The bite severed a nerve, ripped a tendon and took part of his bone. It took 85 stitches to close the wounds.

Renfro said once he’s healed, he will not be not afraid to get back in the water, saying: “Who gets attacked by a shark twice?”

Sources:
NewsJax
Action News Jax

PIC source:
Video still from…
Action News Jax

INJURED – 20 March 2012 – Nobby Beach, Gold Coast, Australia – surfer bitten

Billy O'Leary lies calmly while paramedics treat his shark bite wound.

Billy O’Leary, 20, suffered a deep 30cm wound to his calf from a bite by a small bull shark while surfing 150 metres off Nobby Beach on the Gold Coast, Australia. The incident occurred around 5.05pm on Tuesday 20 March 2012.

A witness said he was lucky not to lose his leg with the bad bite near the ankle.

It is reported the surfer was doing aerials when he fell on the shark, which experts say was feeding on bait fish inshore.

He paddled to shore and a friend called lifeguards who were on the scene in minutes and managed to stem the bleeding before he was taken to Gold Coast Hospital in an ambulance. He was reported in a stable condition.

No other details were reported.

Sources:

Goldcoast.com.au

Sydney Morning Herald

News.com.au

PIC source:

Channel Nine via Goldcoast.com.au

INJURED – 15 March 2012 – Jensen Beach, Florida, US – surfer bitten

A surfer (not named) was bitten on the arm by a bull shark while surfing at Jensen Beach, Florida in the US. The incident happened at 3.50pm on Thursday, 15 March 2012.

Reports say he was bitten several times on the arm, but the injuries were not life threatening.

According to the report, the surfer said the shark’s round nose came out of the water. He said the shark was 5 to 6 feet long.

The man refused medical transport and was taken to a local hospital by his wife.

No other details were reported.

Sources:

Sun Sentinel

Palm Beach Post

Miami Herald

 

INJURED – 18 January 2012 – Redhead Beach, near Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia – surfer attacked

A chunk was bitten from this surfboard by a bull shark that attacked a surfer leaving severe lacerations to his thigh.

UPDATE: The surfer’s name is Glen Folkard. He describes how the shark followed his blood trail as he paddled back to the beach after the attack – Daily Telegraph
——————–

A surfer, aged 44 (name not released) suffered a large laceration to his upper thigh after being attacked by what is believed to be a bull shark. The shark also bit out a chunk of the man’s surfboard.

The incident happened around 5pm on Wednesday 18 January 2012 at Redhead Beach, near Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia.

According to press reports the man managed to paddle to shore while losing a lot of blood where he was hauled up the beach by a group of surfers. He was assisted by lifeguards before paramedics arrived and transported him to John Hunter Hospital in a serious condition.

A witness described the scene as if it was from the movie Jaws.

“It was kind of like Jaws, you know, the scene at the start … where everybody’s pulled out of the water and it’s a hot day and the water’s inviting.”

When they pulled him from the water “his skin was really grey, he obviously lost quite a lot of blood”.

No other details were reported.

Sources:

ABC Online
News.com.au

PIC Source:
News.com.au

INJURED – 24 September 2011 – Anna Maria Island, Gulf of Mexico, Florida, US – spearfisherman attacked

Charles Wickersham recovers in hospital from a shark bite.

Charles Wickersham was spearfishing with several friends in the Gulf of Mexico off Anna Maria Island on Saturday afternoon, 24 September 2011 , when a suffered a severe crescent-shaped bite wound about 15 inches long after bull shark bit him on the left thigh. His friends got him back to the boat and took him ashore where paramedics airlifted him to Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg.

Rescue officials said he lost a lot of blood, but his injuries were not life-threatening.

Experts estimate the bull shark was about 6-feet long.

Wickersham’s mother was quoted as saying:

Nobody saw it coming. They said it was pretty horrific.

And they heard CJ [Wickersham] scream, and he said ‘I’ve been bit by a shark!

He came up to take a breath, he thought one of the guys punched him in the leg, he felt this really hard force in his left leg, he was looking to his right in the water, looking down to see if he could see any more fish, saw the shark, punched him in the nose and thank God, he let go and they pulled him in the boat.

One of Wickersham’s friends was quoted as saying:

He didn’t even see it, just bit him right in the thigh gave him about a 14-inch laceration. The shark came up took one bite, realized it wasn’t anything he wanted, let go and was gone. The water turned just blood red. Gave him just a ten-foot diameter, just like pure blood, it was bleeding pretty fast.

Sources:

Herald Tribune

Fox News

PIC source:

Fox News

INJURED – 15 September 2011 – New Smyrna Beach, Florida, US – surfer bitten

Daniel Jorgensen, 25, suffered a minor wound to his arm from a shark bite while surfing off New Smyrna Beach, Florida, US, at around 11am on Friday, 15 September 2011.

Brief media reports says Jorgensen had a three-inch deep cut to his arm and that he refused transport to the hospital.

A witness who was surfing 10 feet away from Jorgensen when the attack happened,  was quoted as saying:

“I saw the swirl, the shark swirled real hard, probably about five feet from me when I was duck diving (through a wave). I looked over and there was mullet jumping all over this guy and then the whole (expletive) shark came out of the water.

“It was a big shark. More than likely (a bull). I’ve never seen a black tip or anything get that big.”

Other surfers had reported a bull shark swimming on that sandbar in the past few days before the attack.

Sources:

The Daytona Beach News Journal
Herald Tribune

INJURED – 22 July 2011 – Chintsa East, Eastern Cape, South Africa – surfer attacked

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:

Daily Dispatch

TFI News

TheBombSurf.com

PIC: Google Maps