Archive for the 'South Africa' Category
Tuesday, February 16th, 2010
A 19-year-old surfer was bitten by a shark at the Kwelera Mouth, East Coast Resorts just after 12pm on Tuesday.
The teenager was out surfing with three friends when the shark was spotted. After being bitten, the teen quickly paddled back to the shore and friends immediately rushed him to the local pharmacy. Pharmacy?
He had some deep lacerations on his right leg so they bandaged him up at the pharmacy and stabilised him until he could be taken to the hospital.
[source]
Tuesday, January 26th, 2010
A shark alert was raised at Hobie Beach in South Africa yesterday after several hammerhead sharks had been spotted at the popular beach.
A lifeguard said seven sharks about a 3ft in length had been spotted but a photographer on the scene saw two larger ones of about 12ft in length.
Lifesaver Kirstin Jaftha, who was on duty at Hobie Beach yesterday morning about 9.30am, said people on the beach had alerted lifeguards to the presence of two dolphins near Shark Rock Pier – and seven sharks. “The bathers were temporarily cleared from the water and we raised the shark warning flags after we confirmed there really were sharks, but people were allowed to swim close to the shore.”
A spokesperson said this was the first time shark warning flags had been raised at Hobie Beach.
[source]
Friday, January 15th, 2010
Beaches in Cape Town, South Africa have reopened after being closed for two days when a man from Zimbabwe was killed by a shark at Fish Hoek beach.
The man was attacked by a great white shark while around 300 ft off shore on Tuesday.
An official for Cape Town released a statement saying that “although the beaches have been declared safe, both Shark Spotting and lifesaving services will continue.” He added that visitors to the beach should remain in groups and go no further than waist deep in the ocean.
Several eye witnesses viewed the attack on Tuesday. Swimmer Kyle Johnston spoke to a Cape Town newspaper, saying: “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.”
This was the second fatal shark attack on the same beach since 2004, when an elderly women died when she was attack by a great white shark while swimming.
[source]
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.
Thursday, December 31st, 2009
Simon Bruce, 20, was bitten on the foot by a shark at Port Alfred in the Eastern Cape on Tuesday morning. He sustained five bites in his left foot, three of which are “quite big and deep” and required stitches.
Bruce was walking out into the sea at about 8:30. He was no more than chest deep when he felt a bump on his foot. He didn’t feel the bite at all.
Then he felt something rub against the top of his legs and assumed right away it was a shark.
He said he didn’t see the shark at all and immediately headed back to the beach. While he was wading back to shore his foot started to “feel funny” and he realised he had been bitten.
Two friends on the beach wrapped his badly bleeding foot in a towel and took him to a hospital where he received a tetanus shot, the bite wounds were disinfected and stitched, and his foot was bandaged.
[source]
Thursday, December 31st, 2009
[By Olivia 'OJ' Symcox] The family and girlfriend of shark attack victim Peter James Fraser have set the record straight regarding the facts about the shark attack which occurred in Ponta do Oura last week on Tuesday 22 December. Contrary to reports circulating in the media, Fraser did not lose any limbs, although he did sustain 6 injuries of varying severity from his encounter with the 6 ft shark, which has been tentatively identified as a juvenile Tiger shark.
Fraser, 27, and his girlfriend Nicolene Latsky, were holidaying in the Mozambiquan tourist hotspot of Ponta Do Oura. At approximately 4:30pm on the day of the attack, Fraser was swimming in the bay and caught a wave to shore. As he was exiting the water, he felt something bump his leg. Thinking it was his girlfriend, he thought nothing of it. However, the shark came back at him, biting him on the right knee causing him to fall to his knees in the less than 2 ft of water.
The shark came at him again from his right hand side, biting him beneath the right shoulder and again on his back on the right hand side. The worst of his injuries were sustained when he fought the shark off with both his hands. The shark bit down on his hands, resulting in deep cuts across all of his knuckles on his left hand, almost severing through three tendons on the top of his fingers. His right hand sustained less severe lacerations. Peter then exited the water unassisted, where he was treated by a paramedic who was on holiday at the same location.
Continue reading ‘Shark Attack Victim’s Family Sets The Record Straight’
Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009
According to TimesLive, a South African teenager has lost a leg and an arm in a shark attack in Ponte de Orca Bay in Mozambique. According to the news report, the teenage boy was airlifted to a hospital in KwaZulu-Natal after the attack on Tuesday afternoon.
Ponte de Orca is a popular beach holiday and diving destination just north of the South African border.
[source]
UPDATE: According to Zigzag, the victim did not lose an arm or leg but was flown by private helicopter to hospital in Richards Bay shortly after the incident.
Monday, December 21st, 2009
Durban Surfer Lance Morris was attacked by either a small shark or some other form of predator fish like a Barracuda or Morey eel at North Beach on Friday. Whatever it was, he needed 10 stitches to repair the damage. By the size of the bite marks on his leg, the doctor who stitched him up estimated the attacker to be about 4 – 5ft in length. See more pics here!
[source]
[photo: Karl Liebenberg]
Saturday, December 19th, 2009
Beachgoers watched in horror yesterday as a lifeguard was pulled off his board by a shark and mauled to death at Port St Johns’ Second Beach.
Witnesses said they saw his hands in the air for a short while before his whole body disappeared under the water and a red pool of blood was seen on the surface.
The 22-year-old’s remains have yet to be found. The victim’s name has been withheld until officials inform his family.
He’s the fourth person to die from a shark attack at the same beach in two years.
UPDATE: Tshintshekile Nduva, 22, of Noqekwana village in Port St Johns was the victim of the fatal attack. Second Beach remained closed for the weekend after the attack.
[source]
Sunday, August 30th, 2009
The surfer who was killed yesterday in a shark attack at Glentana Bay in the Southern Cape was Gerhard van Zyl, 25, a Mossel Bay local. He was surfing with a friend at the small seaside village when the shark attacked.
National Sea Rescue Institute spokesperson Craig Lambinon said they were called out around 3.30pm, soon after the attack. Van Zyl’s lower right leg had been bitten almost completely off. When authorities arrived, a friend had pulled him out of the water, and had helped to tie a tourniquet around his injured leg.
Lambinon said NSRI volunteers, ER24 paramedic services, Netcare 911, the police, Metro ambulance and rescue services and a Red Cross AMS helicopter had been called to the beach.
“We found him on the beach and treated him for amputation to his right leg,” said Lambinon. “He was airlifted to a hospital in George and when he got there, was declared to be in a critical condition. He was later declared dead.”
[source]
