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Subscribe to RSSChris Myers, who was swimming with his son, suffered severe lacerations to his legs and ankles in a suspected shark attack at Ballston Beach in Truro, Mass.
A man who was attacked by a suspected shark while body surfing with his son near Cape Cod is expected to live, officials say.
The attack happened around 3:30 p.m. Monday when Chris Myers was body surfing and swimming with his teenage son off the coast of Ballston Beach, part of the Cape Cod National Seashore in Truro, Mass.
Witnesses on the beach say they saw a dorsal fin emerge from the water. Moments later, Myers was bleeding profusely from his feet and ankles.
“All of the sudden, between the two swimmers we saw a fin come up and something came through the water,” Anne-Marie Corner, who witnessed the attack, told NBC News affiliate WHDH. “It was a very large fin, easily 15 inches high, and came across and torqued a little towards the second swimmer and within seconds we realized it was a shark and the swimmer had been attacked.”
“It was, like, two people and this large dark blue-black thing came up and kind of torqued around and you saw this big dorsal fin and it, like, went back down,” another witness, Walter Palmer, told WHDH.
Myers is treated after a suspected shark attack Monday at Ballston Beach in Truro, Mass., on Cape Cod.
Gregory Skomal, a shark biologist with the state's Department of Fish and Game, later told a press conference that "the weight of evidence points to a white shark."
Witnesses say that beachgoers -- including a doctor and a nurse -- jumped into action immediately after the attack. Emergency responders quickly arrived at the scene, bandaged Myers' legs and carried him off the beach on a stretcher.
Myers is being treated at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, where he will undergo surgery.
Ballston Beach was open Tuesday, but officials posted signs around the beach warning beachgoers of the recent shark sighting.
Truro Town Administrator Rex Peterson told the Boston Globe that even if it was determined to be a shark attack, the beach would remain open because “sharks swim up and down the coast so closing that one particular beach didn’t’ seem to make a whole lot of sense.”
There have been concerns about shark attacks all summer. Earlier this month a kayaker had a close call with the shark, WHDH reported, and since June there have been several shark sightings near seals.
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"...there have been several shark sightings near seals."
Get outa town!!!? Now that's a scoop!!
Ice Cream Headaches! Those ARE KILLERS!
Hope Chris has a speedy recover. I love the ocean and am surrounded by it, but am always careful. Between rip-tides and sharks a person has to be alert. Stay out of the water if seals are nearby and look for reef protected areas with little wave activity. Aloha and be safe.
im not smart dude,but why don't they invent something,that send soff a frenquency,that sorta scares the shark away,you like strap it to your arm or something,and it allways tranmits a frenquency ,i seen things like this on tv and such i think,but i don't it would be that hard,with all the peopel studying sharks and such,dopn't know just a idea.
why do we keep calling these incidents "shark attacks", they're not attacks,this is what sharks do, all day every day, they hunt! it's what they do, it's all they do! Every fish in the ocean knows it, so they stay out of the shark's way. But not us, not the human being, every year we gather up the family and head toward our favorite vacation beach, not even realizing, that on land, we're the dominant species, we call all the shots, but in the ocean, we dominate nothing, and we dont call any shots, we're basically at the mercy of every species in the ocean. The way I see it, if you dont want to become a casualty of the ocean, stay out of the ocean!
Translation: "Summers are short here in New England and tourism is a BIG moneymaker."
I was thinking the EXACT same thing...how funny. And once someone has been attacked, doesn't it move past the "sighting" phase??? Cracks me up...
I just noticed another article about dangerous beaches; Hanakapiai does not see many tourists because it is two miles into a rough trail (Kalalau) and beaches with rip currents are always posted. Between that and the shark article they are going to scare our tourists and that is not good for our economy. Chill out msn!
Thou Shall Not Teabag
This has to be the dumbest post of the century! Maybe we should kills off humans because they are over populating and crowding the beaches! Kill the sharks we might as well kill each other! I'm sorry you idiots failed biology but any removal of any predator from the ocean would disrupt the aquaculture and ruin man!
Here’s the dumbest post ever: Steveo-3785349
I
pulling for the shark next time you meet! It certainly will raise the Earth
overall IQ and give us back a little oxygen!
#1.18 - Tue Jul 31, 2012 7:56 PM EDT
Ha, ha, ha, ha!!!! So says the man who can’t even spell.
Dumb ass.
Oh, Steveo; We will keep on hunting them down... Ha, ha, ha, ha!!! Marinade on that thought!!! Dumb Butt.
Virtuall every fish in the ocean is a predator, they're not all herbivores, most of the fish you eat. Eat other fish. So Steveo are you saying that by eating fish we are destroying the aquaculture? Just keep the balance, less sharks, more seals less people biten. Same fewer wolves, more deer, more meat on the table for humans. The garden of Eden closed down a long time ago Steveo.
It would have been funny if the song "Mack the Knife" just happened to be playing on the radio as they pulled him out of the ocean.
I think the suspected shark should be brought in for questioning but remain free unless proven guilty in a court of law.
He can go to rehab " People are our friends not food "
All of the wimps you say "it's their ocean, you should stay out" have never experienced the joy of surfing. I'll take the small risk of getting bit by a shark for the pleasure I get out of riding waves. If he was on a surfboard, his outcome probably would've been better, not as submerged in the water. The most fun things in life offer some risk. If you want to be safe, you can channel surf on your coach like most Americans.
Umm, shouldn't the sign on the beach have said "recent shark ATTACK" not "sighting"? I think that's a little misleading, if I knew someone had been bit by a shark just one day earlier I would not put a toe in that water!
What does a 'suspected shark' look like? I bet it was a great white. What difference does it make what kind of shark it was, and why do they have to say it was a 'suspected' shark? Are they afraid of insulting the shark?
Well, let's see...."Headlines recently....GREAT WHITES SPOTTED IN WATERS OFF MARTHAS VINEYARD AND CAPE COD". Ok...Now then....Is it "Oh goodie, let's go literally FEED the sharks" or "I guess we need to go elsewhere to play in the water." Remember, we enter their house when we go into the water where we can't see anything below us. You go into somebodys house after dark to prowl around, you'll either be attacked or get shot in your ass.
Stay out of the freakin water surfers and body surfers ! You're asking for it. The sharks own the water. You're trespassing !
Poor things are hungry. Over-fishing by humans, especially those Japanese giant-net trawlers.
FEED THE SHARKS MORE LIBERALS! that will make them loose their taste for humans
Actually the U.S. needs to get on board with what other countries are doing. In Australia they have a program to tag white sharks and large sharks with sensors. Then if they come within a certain distance the proper authorities get an alert and have ample time to clear the water. Cause regardless if you have a spear gun or not depending on how big of a shark, and where they bite you, you might not be able to get a shot off. People need to grasp the concept that when we're in the water, we're in their backyard.
The tags should emit a shock knocking the shark out, to h3ll with alerting somebody.
Amity as you know means "friendship"
Let's see, the article says at the end that they have been seeing SHARKS around the seals. This guy not only went BODY SURFING in shark waters he took his kid. Really, you body surf in the same waters or even within miles of where SHARKS have been hunting SEALS.
Lets see, how can I most make myself look like a SEAL?? hmmmmmm...$.....I know I'll body surf...
I say no more....
A great white? Really? I thought it was Bush.
And what did you say the name of this shark is? It's a carcaradon carcharias, a great white.
sharks attack people because we invade their territory
i think we should leave them alone
But Administrator Peterson, aren't you afraid you're going to see the little Kitner boy spill out all over the dock?
"Thats a twenty footer, Twenty Five 3 tons of him."