CAPE TOWN, South Africa (6 Apr 2004) -- A 16-year-old Lakeside boy, one of more than 100 young surfers in the water at the time, was savaged by a suspected great white shark off Cape Town's Muizenberg beach on Monday afternoon and was in a critical condition in hospital on Monday night. Following lengthy attempts by paramedics, lifesavers, beach police and law enforcement officers to resuscitate him, doctors rushed the teenager into emergency surgery in the late afternoon. He was later placed in intensive care. John Paul "JP" Andrew, who lost most of his right leg, was attacked around 2.15pm about 100m off Surfer's Corner. 'He was very freaked out' He had been paddling back to shore when other surfers saw a shark swim towards him. Grant Kirkland, 28, heard the surfers scream, looked around and realised Andrew had been attacked when a bloody wave washed over the boy. He was the first to reach Andrew. "When I got to him he was conscious and I put him onto my board and paddled back," said Kirkland. "He was very freaked out, but I told him it was fine." Once they reached the beach, lifesavers and painters working nearby rushed to put Andrew on a stretcher and took the bleeding boy to the beach poolhouse. The group waited about 40 minutes for paramedics to arrive. Andrew had lost "a massive amount of blood" and at one point seemed to be dying, but while he was in the ambulance and being taken to the Constantiaberg Medi-Clinic his pulse was revived. 'At first I thought it was a dolphin' Surf shop retailers in the area estimate there were more than 100 surfers in the water on Monday afternoon. Chris Baker was training a group of 15 girls for the Roxy Surf School when two of the girls saw fins and asked him if they were those of a shark. "At first I thought it was a dolphin, but then I saw the extra fin and told the girls to start paddling back," said Baker, 22. "The shark went straight for (Andrew) and it hit his board really hard. Then I saw him bobbing in the water." Lifesaving South Africa area manager Angelo Plaatjies said two sharks had been circling Andrew at the time of the attack. He believes the sharks were great whites, as does Kirkland. A news agency reported that the shark had been spotted by a patrolling helicopter a short while after the attack and that it had been identified as a 3.5-metre great white. Five lifesavers had been on duty just a few metres from shore on Monday afternoon and three more were working at the pool, Plaatjies said. They had not seen the shark until after the attack, when they began alerting surfers to the danger. Shark attacks are rare in False Bay. The Muizenberg surf was a popular spot for novice surfers because of its steady and calm waves, Plaatjies said. | | "I think this is the first time in the history of Muizenberg with lifesavers on duty that a shark attack has happened." It was the second attack in the Cape Peninsula in six months. In September, surfer David Bornman, 19, of Newlands, bled to death shortly after a shark attacked him in the surf at Noordhoek, pulling him under the water and tossing him into the air. Lifesavers said that before this there had been no fatal attacks on surfers in decades, although sharks were increasingly being spotted by water sports enthusiasts. Recently a shark bit off part of a paddleski and one of Cape Town's oldest and most popular long-distance swims, the annual Glencairn to Simon's Town challenge, was cancelled last month for the first time because divers and paddleskiers had repeatedly spotted a six-metre great white around the wreck of the Clan Stuart. Surfer Colleen Brennon of Kommetjie spotted five sharks off Muizenberg on Monday. She had not seen a shark before in 12 years of surfing, she said. Another witness, Diane Foster, said it took half an hour for the water to be cleared of people. She emphasised the need for a siren on the beach or whistles for lifesavers. "The shark was humungus," she said, "and there were seals in the water." Jurie Wessels, president of Western Province Lifesaving, said lifesavers would probably warn beachgoers against swimming at Muizenberg on Tuesday, and lifesavers at surrounding beaches would be looking out for sharks. "There's not a lot more we can do, unless the council closes the beaches." For this, law enforcement officers would have to prevent people swimming and warning signs would have to be put up. The Nokia rescue helicopter will be patrolling the waters for the Easter weekend, starting on Friday, Reyneke said. "People want explanations for attacks, when they may not be available," said Len Compagne, head of the shark research centre at the Iziko South African Museum. Experts don't know whether the common explanation that sharks mistake surfers in wetsuits for seals, is valid, he said. Aggression and playfulness could also make them attack. Great whites are social creatures and often congregate. Gary Shearer of the Western Province Surfing Association says chumming boats that throw dead fish into the water so tourists and scuba divers can see sharks that breed in False Bay are making the sharks' swimming and feeding patterns change. "We are going to demand action by the local council to ban baiting sharks," he said. SOURCE - Cape Times |
