Shark Attack Kills Florida Surfer – An offshore shark attack killed a Florida man as he windsurfed a few hundred yards from the beach.
A group of sharks attacked and killed a kiteboarder off South Florida’s Atlantic coast in the state’s first deadly shark attack in five years, authorities said.
A lifeguard spotted 38-year old Stephen Howard Schafer in distress about 500 yards off the beach Wednesday.
When he paddled out, he found Schafer bleeding and surrounded by a lunging group of several sharks.
Stephen Schafer, an accomplished windsurfer, was taken to a hospital and died a short time later, according to Rhonda Irons, public information officer for the Martin County Sheriff’s Office.
Authorities are investigating what types of sharks may have been involved in the attack on the wind surfer, who was wave hopping in a brisk breeze.
Meanwhile, beaches remained open Thursday in the area about 100 miles north of Miami.
Shark attacks, especially fatal ones, are extremely rare, said George Burgess, a leading shark expert. Burgess directs the International Shark Attack File at the University of Florida’s Museum of Natural History.
The attack on Schafer was only the 14th deadly one in the state since 1896.
“Internationally, we’ve been averaging four fatalities per year, despite the fact that there are billions and billions of human hours spent in the sea every year,” Burgess said Thursday. “Your chances of dying in the mouth of a shark are close to infinitesimal.”
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