CAPE TOWN, April 19 (Reuters) – A man in his 20s was killed
by a great white shark about 5 metres (16 feet) long that bit
off his leg when he was body-boarding off the coast of Cape Town
on Thursday, South Africa’s National Sea Rescue Institute said.
“There are no other bite marks or lacerations on the
deceased man’s body – only the complete amputation of the right
leg and the leg has not been recovered,” it said.
The attack occurred on an isolated beach popular with
surfers. The area, southeast of the city, has since been closed.
It is the second fatal shark in just over two years in the
waters round Cape Town.
A Zimbabwean man was eaten in January 2010 by a great white
described by witnesses “longer than a minibus”, and in September
a swimmer was severely injured but survived an attack in the
Fish Hoek area of False Bay.
Numerous sharks are drawn to the area to feed on the large
number of seals populating Seal Island, a rocky outcrop in the
middle of False Bay.
The City of Cape Town has proposed setting up a shark
exclusion net, similar to that used in Hong Kong, to ensure the
safety of bathers and surfers along the popular strip of beach.
It also employs “shark spotters” to warn bathers about
sharks in the area.
(Reporting by Jon Herskovitz and Wendell Roelf; Editing by Ed
Cropley)
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