Deadly Shark Attack at South Africa Beach!
Tuesday, January 12th, 2010
A swimmer was attacked and killed by a shark at Fish Hoek beach near Cape Town.
A search was underway to locate the swimmer, but nothing so far.
The victim was a white male, between 32 and 38 years old. The identity of the victim is still unknown.
Twitter users also confirmed the attack.
“Holy sh*t, we just saw a GIGANTIC shark eat what looked like a person right in front of our house in fishhoek. Unbelievable,” wrote skabenga.
Bathers have been warned to be on the lookout for great white sharks which traditionally cruise this stretch of the coast at this time of year.
[source]
UPDATE: The victim of Tuesday’s unfortunate attack was Lloyd Skinner, 37, an engineer from Harare, Zimbabwe, and UCT MBA graduate.
According to the news accounts the man was in waist deep water adjusting his goggles. The shark came from below and bit him. He waved and yelled and the shark came back and dragged him under. Witnesses say the shark returned a few moments later for a third pass. They say the bather was literally torn apart. Probably eaten as well, all they recovered were his goggles.
Quite dark this attack. Especially the way it was seen by people, tweeted about etc. Must have been one big, hungry shark.
Lloyd Skinner, 37 – whose mother was born to British missionaries in Mozambique – was standing about 20 yards from the shore at Fish Hoek when the shark struck.
“We saw the shark come back twice,” Phyllis McCartain, from Arundel in Sussex, who was on a beach walkway at the time, told the Cape Times.
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Her friend, Denis Lundon, added that the swimmer was thrust chest-high out of the water.
“I jumped, waved my hat and roared and screamed at swimmers to get out of the water. I never want to experience this again. I’m going to block it out of my mind,” he said.
Another witness, Kyle Johnston, who was swimming about 50 feet away, said: “We looked at the walkway and saw people waving towels at us, then we looked further out to sea and saw what looked like blood, and a man’s leg come up.”
Officials of South Africa’s National Sea Rescue Institute said the search for the remains was continuing.
Sharks, including great whites, are common off South Africa’s shores but attacks on humans are relatively rare, despite the fear that the species engenders, with only a few reported each year.
Cape Town’s beaches will be closed for several days, authorities said.
Mr Skinner held an MBA from the University of Cape Town and was a Zimbabwean citizen who had been working in mining in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
His father, John, is a prominent figure in the industry in the mineral-rich province of Katanga. He was married and his wife is understood to have been with him on the beach.
What species attacked the man?
Was it a greath white or a bull?
Witnesses watched in horror as a shark described as “dinosaur huge” killed a tourist only a few yards off the shore of a popular Cape Town beach in South Africa.
Lloyd Skinner, a 37-year-old engineer and marathon runner from Zimbabwe, was neck deep in water when a large shark – believed to be a Great White – attacked twice and pulled him under, leaving behind a pool of blood, South Africa’s Cape Times reported.
There was very little chance of finding the remains of Lloyd Skinner, 37, a Zimbabwean man who was attacked by a great white shark at Fish Hoek on Tuesday, a National Sea Rescue Institute spokesman said. “I would be amazed if we found anything now,” Ian Klopper said. “The shark attacked him three times. It didn’t bite him and let him go. It came back and carried on eating.” He said the NSRI was preparing to end its search yesterday afternoon as there was very little chance of finding anything
Shark attack traumatizes tourists
January 14, 2010
Tourists and residents in Cape Town, South Africa have been relating stories of how they watched as a swimmer was eaten by a large shark. One resident even logged onto his Twitter account to tell readers how he had just seen what looked like a person get eaten by a massive shark in the sea directly in front of his house. Another witness said that he and his friends had been swimming near the victim at the time of the attack. Kyle Johnston explained that he was chest deep in the water when he looked to the shore to see people waving at him with their hands and beach towels. He said it was then that he saw what looked like blood in the water. Dane Leo who was in the sea with Mr. Johnston said that he thought the people on the shore were joking until he saw a fin in amongst the blood.
It has been confirmed that the shark attack victim was 37-year-old Lloyd Skinner from Zimbabwe. Phyllis McCartain from the U.K. also witnessed the event. She described how the shark, which experts believe was probably a Great White, carried Mr. Skinner in its mouth and that the sea was full of blood. Her friend Dennis Lundon from Ireland said that he saw Mr. Skinner being pushed out of the water by the shark. He said he was going to try very hard to get the image out of his mind. Mr. Skinner’s girlfriend also witnessed the attack and is reportedly undergoing counselling to help her come to terms with the experience.
The shark was a great white. There are no bull sharks or tiger sharks in False Bay. Its to far out of their range. Ma
Shame man..what a terrifying thing to happen. I wont be going swimming in the sea anytime soon that’s for sure!
That is so scary
Iam really very much shoked to near this.
personally i have not see real life attacks about shark.
Poor chap….Most likely he didn’t even understand what was happening.I saw great whites from the cage in the water – if they really after you,you’ve got little chance to survive…… Luckiely,humans are not in their menu
Poor chap….Most likely he didn’t even understand what was happening.I saw great whites in the water (in the cage)-if they really after you,the chances to survive are very minor……
i’m so disturbed about this horrific death…hope he didn’t (too much) suffer……i doubt,