Florida man dies in shark attack
02-04-2010, 08:12 AM
#1
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STUART, Florida - A man kite surfing off a Florida beach died Wednesday after being surrounded and attacked by sharks.
The Martin County Sheriff's Office said a lifeguard first saw the man in distress about 500 yards from shore near Stuart, on the Atlantic coast. The lifeguard paddled out and found sharks encircling 38-year-old Stephen Howard Schafer.
The lifeguard put Schafer on his rescue board and paddled back to shore. Paramedics took Schafer to a hospital, where he later died.
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Research scientist Grant Gilmore told The Palm Beach Post the attackers were likely juvenile great white sharks.
While swimmers and surfers often receive minor bites in Florida waters, fatal shark attacks are extremely rare, officials said.
The Martin County Sheriff's Office said a lifeguard first saw the man in distress about 500 yards from shore near Stuart, on the Atlantic coast. The lifeguard paddled out and found sharks encircling 38-year-old Stephen Howard Schafer.
The lifeguard put Schafer on his rescue board and paddled back to shore. Paramedics took Schafer to a hospital, where he later died.
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Research scientist Grant Gilmore told The Palm Beach Post the attackers were likely juvenile great white sharks.
While swimmers and surfers often receive minor bites in Florida waters, fatal shark attacks are extremely rare, officials said.
2 thoughts:
WTF, sharks ganging up on a surfer?
and
Kudos to that lifeguard, swam 1,000 yards, half of it hauling a guy!!
02-04-2010, 09:06 AM
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yea that was all over the news last night, that's right here where i am. Every once in a while the sharks come in shallow and start feeding, I dunno why, but you don't want to be in the water when they are. There's tons of them out there right now circling.
02-04-2010, 10:01 AM
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i'm not as impressed with the life guard swimming 1,000 yards, as i am with the fact that he swam into where the sharks were attacking someone. How do you manage to swim 500 yards dragging a bleeding body during a shark feeding frenzy and not get eaten yourself???
02-04-2010, 10:17 AM
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Actually I hate to ruin the story, but he didn't "swim" at all, he went out on a paddle board, lifted the guy onto the paddle board and brought him back. Still heroic and all, but he wasn't exactly swimming through the sharks
02-04-2010, 10:28 AM
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Makes a lot more sense, I was questioning his sanity. If he did actually swim, there would probably be 2 fatalities.
02-04-2010, 10:32 AM
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still, a paddle board is just a glorified surfboard.. i think the sharks didn't eat him cause they were in shock after seeing the guy haul *** in and rescuing the dude.
02-04-2010, 12:33 PM
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Scott: Get out on the water in that boat with a harpoon or 20 and get me some shark meat!
The was a story a few days ago from New Zeland where a 15 year old girl bashed a shark with a boogie board that was praying on her and her brother and ended up running the shark off, it only managed to nibble on them a little causing 1 holey wet suit, some minor scrathes and two full loads of poop in the shorts.
The was a story a few days ago from New Zeland where a 15 year old girl bashed a shark with a boogie board that was praying on her and her brother and ended up running the shark off, it only managed to nibble on them a little causing 1 holey wet suit, some minor scrathes and two full loads of poop in the shorts.
02-04-2010, 12:48 PM
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The was a story a few days ago from New Zeland where a 15 year old girl bashed a shark with a boogie board that was praying on her and her brother and ended up running the shark off, it only managed to nibble on them a little causing 1 holey wet suit, some minor scrathes and two full loads of poop in the shorts.
I saw that on TV! They left out the part about the poop in the shorts, though. Another case of inaccurate reporting for sure.