A woman visiting from out-of-town has been bitten by a shark off the beach in front of the Driftwood Resort, according to fire rescue officials.
She is being airlifted to Lawnwwod Medical Center and Heart Institute in Fort Pierce, according to authorities.
The attack happened around noon Wednesday, according to Vero Beach police.
Recreation Director Rob Slezak said double red flags are being flown at all the city beaches and people are being told not to go into the water. County officials have been notified.
Slezak said the woman lost a significant amount of tissue after being bitten in the upper thigh. She was about 20 to 30 yards off the shore when the incident happened.
“The only thing that we know is that she screamed ‘shark,’ ” said Slezak when asked if anyone else had spotted the shark.
He said a lifeguard brought the woman into shore and stabilized her until paramedics from Indian River Fire Rescue arrived.
A great white shark killed a champion bodyboarder near the coast off Cape Town as horrified spectators watched from shore, powerless to help, South African police said.
David Lilienfeld, 20, was riding waves with his younger brother and a friend just outside Gordons Bay Thursday when a shark lunged at him.
Onlookers who witnessed the attack from the shore say they saw Lilienfeld try to fight the animal off with his board.
Lilienfeld’s brother, Gustav, who was in the water near the attack but wasn’t hurt, managed to drag him onto nearby rocks, the Cape Times reported.
A helicopter arrived about 20 minutes later. Lilienfeld, whose right leg was severed below the hip, died at the scene.
A 28-year-old man was attacked by a shark at Leftovers, on Oahu’s North Shore on Tuesday.
“Around 20 (minutes) to 1 p.m. this afternoon, a surfer had sustained some minor lacerations to his foot from an approximately 10-foot shark,” John Hoogsteden, Lieutenant with City and County of Honolulu Ocean Safety and Lifeguard Services told ESPN Surfing photographer, Willi Edwards.
Hoogsteden thought it might be a tiger shark, but added, “We’re not 100 percent certain of the type, but it was a larger shark.”
According to a story in the Honolulu Star Advertiserr, the surfer was Joshua Holley of Waialua.
“It came up and got him and let him go, then came up and got him a second time. He fought it off with his board and got a good look at it,” City and County of Honolulu Ocean Safety and Lifeguard Services Operation Chief Jim Howe told the local paper.
A 33-year-old father-of-two has become WA’s latest fatal shark attack victim after setting off for a morning dive with his brother earlier today.
Peter Kurmann, from Vasse, was diving about 1600m off Stratham Beach, within Geographe Bay south of Bunbury, when he was attacked by a shark, believed to be 4m long, shortly before 9.30am today.
Mr Kurmann’s death is the fourth fatal shark attack in WA waters since September last year.
The Department of Fisheries launched a search for the shark with aerial and water patrols today and it will likely help identify the species of the shark by analysing bite marks.
A 20-year-old engineering student has been bitten by a shark while surfing at Nobby’s Beach on the Gold Coast.
Billy O’Leary was attacked by what is believed to be a small bull shark, Nine News reported.
He sustained deep puncture wounds to his lower calf and ankle, including a 30cm gash.
“I am down here on the beach and he seems to be doing fine at the moment — good as gold at the moment,” lifeguard Warren Young told the Gold Coast Bulletin.
The attack took place about 5pm AEST.
Mr O’Leary is believed to have fallen onto the shark while it was feeding on baitfish off the beach.
He has been taken to Gold Coast Hospital in a stable condition.
A diver has been bitten in the face by a shark at the Melbourne Aquarium.
The woman was taken to the St Vincent’s Hospital with a cut to her face after the attack just after 11.30am, an Ambulance Victoria spokesman said. She was in a stable condition.
Melbourne Aquarium general manager Mark Manteit said the woman was bitten by a small shark during a routine dive feed.
“The diver was bitten by one of our smaller 40-centimetre tawny nurse sharks, in the Shipwreck Cove exhibit,” he said.
The woman was given first aid before paramedics arrived.
“The tawny nurse sharks does not have sharp teeth, they have small plates on the top and bottom of their mouth which they use to feed on small prey,” Mr Manteit said.
Mr Manteit said such incidents were to be expected from time to time at an aquarium.
A 19-year-old Orlando man was taken to a Brevard County hospital this afternoon after being injured during a brief encounter with a shark on Playalinda Beach in Florida.
The young man was kitesurfing with friends about 1:15 p.m. when his left foot came into contact with a shark, said Jeff Taylor, a spokesman for Brevard County Fire Rescue.
He was taken by ambulance to Parrish Medical Center in Titusville with “lacerations” that appeared to be “fairly superficial.”
The man, whose name was not immediately available, himself was not sure what happened. He told paramedics that he felt his foot hit something and then he felt immediate pain, Taylor said.
Australia has seen its third shark attack in weeks, its second in two days. David Pickering, injured off the northwest coast, said he beat off a tiger shark with his left arm Thursday when it had grabbed his right one.
A surfer dragged from his board and mauled by a two-metre shark was circled by the predator as he tried to make it back to shore.
Glen Folkard, 44, known as “Lenny”, is in a stable and lucid condition in John Hunter Hospital today after being attacked while surfing off Redhead Beach, south of Newcastle, Wednesday afternoon.
Believed to be a bull shark, it took a large chunk out of Mr Folkard’s thigh as well as his board before dragging him underwater, witnesses said.
He was able to shake himself free and get to the surface. Several surfers came to his aid as he tried to paddle to safety and helped him catch a wave into shore.
More than 100 people were in the water when the shark attacked. Witnesses in the surf said Mr Folkard was lying on his board about 20 metres from a large group of surfers when the shark struck about 4.40pm.
