This is a sad story, at the same time, I do not understand why people are shocked when someone is killed by a shark or similar killer beasts, while venturing in the said beasts’ territory…
Bodysurfer Killed (Murray, 2012)
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.
“I saw this big dorsal fin, and after that I saw him getting attacked,” surfer Matt Marais, who had gotten out of the water to make a phone call, told the Independent Online.
“Then, the shark turned around and attacked him again. Just before it attacked him, he tried to put his board between him and the shark. He was pushing the shark’s head with his board.
“But within two seconds, the water turned from turquoise to red.” (Murray, 2012)
Image of a similar great white shark (Denial, 2011)
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.
“David was a Sprinbok bodyboarder. This was his life, and he died doing what he loved,” Lilienfeld’s father said in a statement issued through police.”
Rest in peace to the young chap. A lot of tourists venture into the waters in South Africa for extreme sports each year, with a combination of over 3000km (South Africa, 2011) of coastline on the shores of the Indian Ocean, it is a beehive of activity. South Africa is among one of the top countries for shark attacks, with 112 attacks and 23 deaths in the past 21 years alone (Justin Othersurfa, 2010), one would think tourists would venture away from this area but nope, the thrill is too much.
It is best to exercise caution when having fun in the South African waters. There are some handy tips to fend off a shark attack that I managed to gather on the web. Always get out of the water, pretty obvious. If it is not possible, try get to the bottom of the ocean so that the angles of attack are limited, if swimming with a partner, swim with your backs to each other so that there are two pairs of eyes from all directions, try hit the shark with whatever object you can find and try aim for his nose. Also try hit the shark gills as they are very sensitive (BBC News, 2006). Either way, have fun and try not to be a statistic, remember, you are in their home.
BBC News, 2006. Magazine. [Online]
Available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/4623990.stm
[Accessed 20 June 2012].
Denial, M., 2011. Animals And Pets. [Online]
Available at: http://animalsearths.blogspot.ca/2011/05/great-white-shark-diet.html
[Accessed 20 June 2012].
Justin Othersurfa, 2010. Complete Shark Attack Record. [Online]
Available at: http://www.stopsharkcagediving.com/south_africa_shark_attack_file.htm
[Accessed 20 June 2012].
Murray, R., 2012. Great White Shark. [Online]
Available at: http://articles.nydailynews.com/2012-04-20/news/31375845_1_shark-attack-victim-great-white-shark-bodyboarder
[Accessed 20 June 2012].
South Africa, 2011. What To Do. [Online]
Available at: http://www.southafrica.net/sat/content/en/us/full-article?oid=18413&sn=Detail&pid=455
[Accessed 20 June 2012]
Word On The Screen 