Shark Attack San Diego - A Great White shark killed a 66-year old San Diego man in an attack 150 yards off Solana Beach while he was training for a triathalon with a group wearing wetsuits.
The fatal shark attack, San Diego County’s first in 14 years, coincided with an unusual appearance on the beach of seal lions, which are one of the Great White shark’s favorite prey.
San Diego lifeguards speculated that this rare appearance by the seal lions is what drew the Great White shark in so close to shore and that the wetsuit wearing group closely resembled the seal lions from the shark’s point of view.
The 66-year old retiree lived only a few blocks from the beach and had been swimming at Tide Beach near the City of Solana Beach north of San Diego with the triathalon group for the last six years. Group members said they had never seen a shark in all the years they’ve been training there.
The shark attack took place at 7:00 am about 150 yards offshore, said Solana Beach lifeguard Craig Miller. Two swimmers were about twenty yards ahead of the man when they heard him scream for help.
“They saw him come up out of the water, scream ’shark,’ flail his arms and go back under,” a witness from the triathalon training group said.
They swimmers turned around and found that the man had been bitten deeply across both thighs, so they dragged the victim back to shore. A witness said, “The flesh was just hanging,” and the man may have bled to death before he left the water.
“It looks like the shark came up, bit him, and swam away,” said Solana Beach Deputy Fire Chief Dismas Abelman. He was taken to a lifeguard station and pronounced dead at the scene.
Swimmers were ordered out of the water for several hours along a 17-mile stretch near the shark attack site. San Diego County sent up helicopters to scan the waters for the shark, but it could not be located.
The last fatal shark attack along San Diego County was off Ocean Beach in April 1994.
And that’s the lates news on the shark attack San Diego.
Tags: shark attack, shark attack fletcher cove, shark attack san diego, solana beach shark attack
April 25th, 2008 at 3:41 pm
News Video of San Diego Shark Attack
The attack happened near Fletcher Cove in Solana Beach. Solana Beach is about 15 miles north of the City of San Diego.
April 25th, 2008 at 3:45 pm
Diving With Great White Sharks
Underwater video from shark cage shows just how powerful these Great White sharks are as they ferociously rip into the bait.
April 25th, 2008 at 6:01 pm
San Diego Shark Attack Victim Identified
The victim has been identified as Dave Martin, 66, a retired veterinarian who was swimming with members of a triathlon club, said family friend Rob Hill.
Witnesses reported seeing Dave Martin’s leg severed at the knee.
“He had very severe injuries to both legs,” Deputy Fire Chief Dismas Abelman told reporters. He said the wound was a single bite across both legs.
A marine biologist told a beachside news conference Friday that the animal was “almost certainly a great white shark.”
“I was told that the victim was pushed up out of the water in a violent attack,” said Richard Rosenblatt of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. “That’s typical great white behavior.”
Rosenblatt said the bite was likely “clean and massive” and believes the animal was a female.
April 25th, 2008 at 6:27 pm
Previous Shark Attack - Michelle Von Emster
The last time a shark was confirmed to have bitten someone in San Diego County waters was in 1994.
The victim, 25-year-old Michelle Von Emster, went for a nighttime swim by herself in Ocean Beach April 14.
Her body, with her leg severed at midthigh, was found the following day 2 miles to the south, near the surfing area known as Garbage Reef.
Local investigators determined she drowned after being bitten by a great white shark, but state Fish & Game investigators said it couldn’t be determined which happened first.
Homicide detectives were called in after friends of the victim raised questions of foul play.
Friends said the woman – whose body was found unclothed – would not swim alone or without a swimsuit. They also wondered why Von Emster’s purse was found on the bluffs above the beach, and why her clothing was never found.
April 25th, 2008 at 9:37 pm
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