AN American man was yesterday badly mauled by a shark while scuba-diving off Rocky Bay coast near Pennington on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast.
Netcare 911 paramedic spokesperson Chris Botha said the man was diving for scientific research when he was attacked just after noon. "Both his hands and his left leg were badly mauled. Paramedics had to stabilise him first before he was airlifted to Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital," Botha said.
The man, aged 22, was not identified.
Isolated incident
Head of research at the Natal Sharks Board Jeremy Cliff said the man was scuba-diving 5km offshore when he was attacked.
"This is an isolated incident and should be treated as such. The general public should not be worried about being attacked. But I must say that they need to be cautious and very careful when swimming because there are a lot of shark movements with the sardines' activities that is currently taking place," he said.
Less than a month ago, a spear-fisherman died in a bizarre attack at Cape Vidal on the North Coast when he was mauled by a shark which was apparently after his fresh catch.
Warren Smart, 28, of Richards Bay, who died from a massive loss of blood after he was bitten by the shark, earlier said the predator had "accidentally" grabbed his thigh.
US man mauled by shark in KZN
AN American man was yesterday badly mauled by a shark while scuba-diving off Rocky Bay coast near Pennington on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast.
Netcare 911 paramedic spokesperson Chris Botha said the man was diving for scientific research when he was attacked just after noon. "Both his hands and his left leg were badly mauled. Paramedics had to stabilise him first before he was airlifted to Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital," Botha said.
The man, aged 22, was not identified.
Isolated incident
Head of research at the Natal Sharks Board Jeremy Cliff said the man was scuba-diving 5km offshore when he was attacked.
"This is an isolated incident and should be treated as such. The general public should not be worried about being attacked. But I must say that they need to be cautious and very careful when swimming because there are a lot of shark movements with the sardines' activities that is currently taking place," he said.
Less than a month ago, a spear-fisherman died in a bizarre attack at Cape Vidal on the North Coast when he was mauled by a shark which was apparently after his fresh catch.
Warren Smart, 28, of Richards Bay, who died from a massive loss of blood after he was bitten by the shark, earlier said the predator had "accidentally" grabbed his thigh.
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