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

FATAL – 16 February 2011 — Perforated Island near Coffin Bay, South Australia – diver attacked

Peter Clarkson, 49, was killed when he was attacked by two

Peter Clarkson, abalone diver, killed in shark attack

sharks, believed to be Great Whites, while surfacing after diving for abalone south of Perforated Island near Coffin Bay in South Australia. His body was not recovered.

The incident occurred on Wednesday 16 February 2011.

The attack was witnessed by the skipper of the boat, Howard Rodd to which he was returning.

A police spokesman was quoted as saying: “The diver came to the surface, and the skipper observed two sharks take [Clarkson] and pull him under the water.”

“There was nothing else sighted.”

He said it was reported that there was one large shark and one smaller shark in the attack.

Clarkson was an experience abalone diver. It was not known if he was wearing a shark shield electronic shark deterrent device, which it is known he had worn on previous dives.

 

Sources:

ABC

The Advocate

 

PIC source:

WA Today – The Advocate

 

FATAL – 22 October 2010 – Surf Beach, Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, US – body boarder attacked

The barrels were red with blood

Lucas McKaine Ransom, 19, died after having his leg bitten off by a shark while he was body boarding with a friend about 100 metres offshore of Surf Beach on the property of Vandenberg Air Force Base about 130 miles (about 210 km) northwest of Los Angeles, California.

Fatal shark attack victim Lucas Ransom's body board

The shark, believed to be great white and reported to be between 14 and 20 feet long, attacked without warning and pulled Ransom under the water. His friend and other witnesses pulled him from the water. He was pronounced dead at the scene by officials at the Air Force base.

His friend, Matthew Garcia, was quoted in various media as saying he was 2 feet away when the shark breached the water on its side and attacked without warning.

“There was no sign, there was nothing. It was all very fast, very stealth.”

He said the shark appeared to be about 18 feet long.

“We were just in perfect water. The waves were perfect, great barrels. You hear a surfer say, ‘Oh, perfect waves’ — well, the waves do not get any better than they were today.”

“When the shark hit him, he just said, ‘Help me, dude!’ He knew what was going on. It was really fast. You just saw a red wave and this water is blue — as blue as it could ever be — and it was just red, the whole wave. Even the barrel was red.”

He said, as waves (reportedly 6-8 foot surf that day) broke over his head, he tried to find his friend who had been dragged underwater. He turned towards shore to go get help and then saw his red body board pop up. He swam to his friend and did chest compressions as he brought him to shore.

“He was just floating in the water. I flipped him over on his back and underhooked his arms. I was pressing on his chest and doing rescue breathing in the water.

“He was just kind of lifeless, just dead weight.”

Sources:
Yahoo News
MSNBC
CNN