San Diego 海邊大白鯊咬死 triathlete - 鐵人三項 Ironman Triathlon

星期五早晨7am ，加州聖地牙哥海邊，發生大白鯊咬死一位三項全能
運動選手的事件，死者是66歲的退休獸醫，當時身穿黑色類似潛水衣
的wetsuit ，很可能是這種游泳服裝的在鯊魚眼中看似海豹等動物，
才會被咬，不幸遇難。


http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_9054035?source=rss

Apparent great white shark kills triathlete at San Diego County beach

Allison Hoffman
Associated Press

Article Launched: 04/25/2008 09:30:51 AM PDT

SOLANA BEACH, Calif. - A shark believed to be a great white killed a
swimmer with a single giant bite across both legs in the ocean off
San Diego County early today, authorities and witnesses said.
Other swimmers saw the man thrust out of the water flailing, pulled
under, then resurface screaming, sheriff's Sgt. Randy Webb said in a
statement. The others helped him to shore, but paramedics could not
save him.

The victim was Dave Martin, 66, a retired veterinarian who was
swimming with members of a triathlon club, said family friend Rob Hill.

The shark was almost certainly a great white and was possibly 12 feet
to 17 feet long, said Richard H. Rosenblatt, professor emeritus of
marine biology at the Scripps Insitution of Oceanography.

The attack occurred shortly after 7 a.m. about 150 yards offshore as
the victim was swimming with nine other people, according to Solana
Beach fire and lifeguard officials and the San Diego County Sheriff's
Department.

Solana Beach lifeguard Craig Miller said two swimmers were about 20
yards ahead of Martin when they heard him scream for help. They turned
around and dragged him back to the shoreline along the narrow cove
flanked by 50-foot-high bluffs topped by homes.

There was a single bite across both of the man's legs, Solana Beach
Deputy Fire Chief Dismas Abelman said.

The victim was taken to a lifeguard station and given emergency
treatment while an air ambulance was summoned, but bled to death
before he could be flown to a hospital, a sheriff's statement said.
A witness, Ira Opper of Solana Beach, described the victim as
"burly and athletic." He said he was wearing a black wetsuit that
was shredded on both legs. He saw one leg heavily bandaged with
visible bite marks on the other leg. Opper said paramedics worked
on the man for at least 20 minutes.

Swimmers were ordered out of the water for miles around Solano
Beach and sheriff's helicopters were sent up to scan the waters
for the shark.

"The shark is still in the area. We're sure of that," Mayor Joe
Kellejian said.

Hill, also a member of the Triathlon Club of San Diego, said he
was running on the beach while about nine other members were in
the water when the attack took place.

"They saw him come up out of the water, scream 'shark,' flail his
arms and go back under," Hill said.

"The flesh was just hanging," and the man may have bled to death
before he left the water, Hill said.

He said Martin lived just blocks from the beach.

"He was down here all the time," Hill said.

Hill said club members had been meeting at the beach for at least
six years and had never seen a shark.

"We don't see them out here at all," he said.

However, Hill said that earlier this week he saw a seal or sea
lion on the beach. Miller said a seal pup was found on the beach
this morning before the attack and was taken to a marine animal
rescue center.

The shark may have confused the wet-suited swimmers with his prey,
Hill said.

Rosenblatt, the shark expert, said white sharks travel through the
area, and the way the man was attacked and the "massive" but clean
wounds "sounds like what a white shark would do."

White sharks hunt along the bottom, look for seal silhouettes above
and then rise to attack, he told a news conference at the beach.

"A human swimmer is not too unlike a seal," he said.

Scott Bass of Encinitas, an editor at Surfer Magazine, said he was
out surfing when the attack happened but didn't see it. He said
helicopters started flying overhead, announcing, "There's been a
fatal shark attack. Go in immediately."

Miller said eight miles of beaches would be closed to swimming for
72 hours.

Solana Beach is 14 miles northwest of San Diego.

Earlier this year, stories of shark sightings swept the coast from
San Diego County north through Orange and Los Angeles counties, the
Los Angeles Times reported in late March. One surfer claimed a bite
mark on his surfboard was made by a great white at Bolsa Chica State
Beach, but lifeguards at nearby Huntington Beach said there was no
evidence of great whites in the vicinity at that time. Other shore
authorities also hadn't recorded any unusual sightings.

The last fatal shark attack in California, according to data from
the state Department of Fish and Game, took place on Aug. 15, 2004,
in Mendocino County at Kibesillah Rock. The victim was a man diving
for abalone with a friend.

On Aug. 19, 2003, a woman swimmer was killed by a great white at Avila
Beach in San Luis Obispo County on the central California coast.

The last fatal shark attack along San Diego County was off Ocean Beach
in April 1994.

Overall, shark attacks are extremely rare. There were 71 reported
worldwide last year, up from 63 in 2006. Only one attack, in the South
Pacific, was fatal, according to the University of Florida.

The university's International Shark Attack File has counted an average
of 4.1 people killed by sharks annually worldwide in the last seven years.

Sharks are highly migratory, making it unlikely that today's attacker
poses additional risk to swimmers, said George Burgess, a biologist at
the university. Still, other sharks may lurk.

"It's not any more dangerous than it was yesterday or the week before,
" Burgess aid. "The reality is when you enter the sea it's a wilderness
experience. There are animals out there that can and do occasionally do
harm to us."

Sharks feed on seals and sea lions, making areas where those animals
live more vulnerable to attacks, Burgess said.




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