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 25-year-old man was killed by a shark at Port St Johns Second beach on Sunday, the Eastern Cape health department said.
“This afternoon a swimmer from Port St Johns was attacked by a shark and struggled with it for about five minutes using his surf board,” said spokesperson Sizwe Kupelo.
“A surfer who was next to him during the ordeal described the swimmer as being brave by fighting it. Unfortunately it injured him severely in both arms and in the chest,” he said.
A second eyewitness raised the alarm for other swimmers to leave the water.
“A doctor who was amongst the swimmers tried to save his life along with paramedics who arrived at the beach. The man died on the way to a local health centre.”
“Second beach is notorious for shark attacks and I am told that there is no [shark] net there,” said Kupelo.
A man has been mauled by a great white shark near Cape Town in South Africa.
The 42-year-old entered the sea at Fish Hoek Beach to go for a swim, although the area had been closed after a shark was spotted.
Rescuers found the man on the shore with his right leg bitten off. His left leg had been cut off below the knee.
Amateur footage showed the man being airlifted by helicopter from the scene and a large shark in the waters. He is now said to be in a critical condition.
“When the victim entered the water, the beach was still closed and the shark flag indicating the presence of a white shark was flying,” Cape Town authorities said in a statement.
The man, believed to be a British citizen living in South Africa, entered the water about an hour and a half after the animal had first been seen.
A Plettenberg Bay man died on Tuesday after he was attacked by a shark, probably a great white, at Lookout Beach, the National Sea Rescue Institute confirmed to News24.
Doctors tried for hours to save the man, apparently a surfer.
He said that the NSRI was still speaking to the man’s family and would not release the man’s name until that has been completed.
The attack happened at 09:11 at the Keurboom’s river mouth at Lookout Beach.
According to tweets from witnesses, the man’s leg was badly injured.
The NSRI advised people not to go swimming in the Plettenberg Bay area.
A South African surfer survived a shark attack Friday after he was bitten on his arm and leg, having been saved by fellow surfers, the National Sea Rescue Institute said.
“A 27-year-old surfer was bitten on his upper left arm and on his right leg by a shark of unknown species,” spokesman Craig Lambinon said.
Fellow surfers pulled him from the water on his board and raised the alarm for others in the water at the Cinsta East beach, he said.
By the time rescue services arrived, the man was already on land.
Paramedics determined that he was in stable condition but took him to a private hospital in East London, Lambinon said.
The last fatal shark attack in South Africa was in January 2010.
An American man was badly mauled by a shark while scuba-diving off Rocky Bay coast near Pennington on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast.
The man was diving for scientific research when he was attacked just after noon. Both his hands and his left leg were badly mauled. Paramedics had to stabilize him before he was airlifted to Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital.
A man died after being attacked by a shark at Cape Vidal in KwaZulu-Natal on Saturday.
Spokesperson Craig Lambinon said the man had been spearfishing with a group of people at Cape Vidal, 150km north of Richards Bay, when he was attacked around midday.
He was taken ashore by other fishermen and on-scene medical personnel attended to him until the Red Cross AMS helicopter and private ambulance services arrived.
The man suffered lacerations to his thigh and was declared dead on the scene after efforts to resuscitate him failed.
An angler was seriously injured after being attacked by a shark at the Sunday River mouth in Port Elizabeth, South Africa on Wednesday.
He was standing waist-high in the water fishing when the shark bit him on his leg. After a struggle he managed to get to safety but had to walk over a mile to get help.
The 40-year-old was taken to Greenacres hospital for treatment. The extent of his injuries was not immediately clear.
Zama Ndamase, a 2009 Surfing South Africa Scholarship recipient, died today in a horrific shark attack. The 16-year-old was surfing with his brother, Avuyile, and other members of the local surf club at Second Beach in Port St Johns when the attack occurred. The talented surfer is the fifth shark victim at this notorious beach in the last three years. Four of the attacks have been fatal.
According to reports, Zama managed to catch a wave after being bitten and attempted to reach the shore. Tragically he bled to death in the water before he could be rescued by the lifeguards and rescue craft.
Surfer Frank Solomon recently had this close call with a 9′ shark while sailing through the Bassas da India. Solomon and fellow surfer, James Taylor, are currently on a journey across the Indian Ocean, mixing business with pleasure as they deliver a yacht and scout exotic wave locations en route. The crew were anchored and having lunch on deck when they spotted a couple of the sharks swimming around.
“I thought it would be a good idea to take my GoPro (camera) and swim with them” wrote Solomon on his expedition blog. “What I didn’t know was that they were Zambezi sharks.”
After jumping overboard, the situation escalated quickly. “The first shark I filmed was fine but then another one arrived and for some reason it didn’t like me filming. Maybe it was camera shy” quipped Solomon. “It fully started attacking me. Luckily I was able to push it away with my feet after about 15 seconds of it trying to bite me.”
