Man loses leg in Australia shark attack

PERTH, Australia - A surfer was critical Wednesday after a shark ripped off his leg in an attack in Australia's west with witnesses recounting how "all hell broke loose" as his board was snapped in half.

The attack happened at Falcon Beach, a suburb south of Perth, late Tuesday not long after Surf Life Saving WA, a volunteer non-profit organization, tweeted that a shark, believed to be a great white, had been sighted in the area.

The West Australian newspaper reported that Ben Gerring, 29, was with a group of other surfers when he was hit by the shark, which it said severed his right leg above the knee.

Fellow surfers dragged the heavily-bleeding man to shore as he lost consciousness.

"I turned and looked back and I actually saw thrashing around him and I heard him yelling for help," friend Sheldon Spencer told the newspaper.

"His leg was gone ... one of the guys started CPR straight away. We did everything we could."

He was transferred to Royal Perth Hospital by helicopter where he was said to be in critical condition.

Mandurah Boardriders Club president Brian Williams said he had just paddled further out into the ocean to catch a bigger wave when "all hell broke loose".

"He was right out the back looking to get a big wave, one of the set waves that had been coming through during the day," Williams told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

"He'd sort of paddled out the back, sort of past the pack slightly. And next thing all hell broke loose and they were trying to bring him in.

"His board was broken in half, they found the tail part of his board."

He added that Gerring's mother was at the scene.

Western Australia's department of fisheries said shark traps would be set on Wednesday to try and capture the animal, saying "a serious threat to public safety exists".

"Given the nature of the injuries and the location of the incident, it is likely that a white shark, of three metres (9ft 10ins) or more in size, is responsible," it said.

Experts say attacks are increasing as water sports become more popular and bait fish move closer to shore, but fatalities remain rare.

There have been a spate of attacks, mostly off Australia's east coast last year, including the death of a Japanese surfer.

More recently, a surfer had most of his thigh bitten off by a shark in an attack south of Sydney in March.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Another Australian surfer dies in Indonesia: police

JAKARTA, Indonesia - A second Australian in little more than a week has died during a surf trip to Indonesia's famed Mentawai Islands, police confirmed Thursday.

Adam Albert Dube was found dead on Wednesday morning after vanishing during an ocean swim with friends the night before.

Mentawai police chief Reko Indro Sasongko said the group of 10 arrived at the popular surf spot off the west coast of Sumatra island late Tuesday.

After drinking aboard their boat, they decided around midnight to go for a swim, Sasongko said.

"After an hour they returned to the boat, but only nine showed up. Dube was not there," he told AFP.

A search ensued for the missing Australian but he wasn't found until Wednesday morning. His body was taken immediately to Padang city on Sumatra island, Sasongko said.

His death comes shortly after another Australian, 54-year-old Ronald Stephen Schneider, was killed after being smashed onto rocks in heavy surf at the Mentawais last week.

The world famous reef breaks off the Sumatra coast are a mecca for surfers, especially Australians, seeking its fabled barreling waves.

Sasongko said police had been warning visiting surfers to be extra vigilant during the dry season months, when wave sizes peak and conditions are particularly dangerous.

"Not only are the currents strong and the waves large, but there are many whirlpools that cannot be seen when in the water but are noticeable from above," he said.

"Those are very dangerous."

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Who is Mick Fanning, shark-beating surfer

SYDNEY -- Australian surfer Mick Fanning, who survived a terrifying encounter with a shark while competing in South Africa, has experienced both triumph and tragedy on his way to three world championships.

His dream to make the pro tour was one he shared with his older brother Sean. But he was forced to carry on alone when his sibling was killed in a car accident on the way home from a party.

The then 17-year-old Fanning had been offered a lift in the same car but chose to walk home that night. He has said that his brother has always been in his thoughts, particularly when he does well at surf events.

"Sean and I were going to do the pro tour together; that was our dream," he said in his 2009 memoir "Surf For Your Life." "A lot of the time I feel like he's with me when I travel and compete."

Fanning made the tour less than four years after his brother's death and was noticed from the start, finishing fifth and being named as the ASP Rookie of the Year in 2002.

The following year he ended fourth but his meteoric rise was interrupted in 2004 due to injury.

The surfer from Tweed Heads on the New South Wales far north coast had ripped his hamstring off the bone while surfing in Indonesia, an injury which could have ended his career.

But he bounced back to take the world title from Kelly Slater in 2007 -- the first Australian to grab the title since Mark Occhilupo in 1999 -- and won his second title two years later.

In 2013, he collected his third world title and last year was runner-up.

But self-preservation rather than honors were on his mind on Sunday, when he punched the estimated 10-foot shark.

"Mick had the survival mechanism to punch the shark to keep himself alive," Australian surf champion Layne Beachley told the Nine Network.

"He's very fortunate. No one in their wildest dreams would think this would happen."

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com