KUNASHIR ISLAND, Russia (30 July 2004) -- A great white shark attacked a Russian man as he was deep-sea diving off the Far East island of Kunashir, nearly biting off his left leg in an unusually rare case for Russia, the Russian Information Agency Novosti reported. The man swam to the surface with serious injuries — the shark had torn muscle tissue on his thigh and calf. A surgeon in the town of Yuzhno Kurilsk, however, saved the man's life, and his leg too. White sharks — of "Jaws" fame — are extremely rare even around the Sakhalin region island of Kunashir, just 70 kilometers from northern Japan. Only two cases of fishermen catching white sharks in the area have been registered since the turn of the century, and experts attribute them to global warming. | | Shark attacks in Russia are even rarer, since the "man-eating" white shark prefers warmer climates. SOURCE - Moscow News |
