Posted on 06/25/2005 2:19:19 PM PDT by Tumbleweed_Connection
A 14-year-old girl died Saturday after a shark attacked her while she and a companion were swimming in the Gulf of Mexico, authorities said.
The teenagers were swimming on boogie boards about 100 yards offshore when they noticed a dark shadow in the water, authorities said.
"One of the swimmers was bitten. It was the lower portions of her body," said Walton County Sheriff's spokeswoman Donna Shank. The other swimmer was not injured.
Both girls swam to shore, and the victim was taken to a hospital where she was pronounced dead, Shank said. The girl was on vacation from Louisiana, but her name was not immediately released.
The attack happened near the Camping on the Gulf Holiday Travel Park, about 45 miles east of Pensacola on the Florida Panhandle.
Patrick O'Neill, the campground's general manager, refused to comment.
Authorities closed about 20 miles of beaches to swimming shortly after the attack. It's the height of the summer tourism season along the coast and the beaches were packed with people.
"This doesn't happen very often at all — very, very seldom," said Mike McKee, front desk supervisor at the nearby Hilton Sandestin Beach Resort and Spa.
Florida had the largest number of documented shark attacks worldwide in 2003 with 30, according to statistics compiled by the American Elasmobranch Society and the Florida Museum of Natural History. There were 12 attacks off the coast of Florida last year.
100 yards isn't that far. Especially at that beach where it remains shallow and then you have a sand bar about 100 yards out.
I lived there in '71. Okaloosa Island had no really big hotels (a couple of smaller ones I think) and the house I lived in was visble from Santa Rosa Blvd. It's now surrounded by houses and can't be seen.
There was absolutely NOTHING at Navarre. We had friends that lived there and I swear there were only two houses where they lived!
This was my first time back in 30 years. My dad kicks himself for not buying land on the island back in '71.
Those were probably pilot fish figuering your "boyfriend's" hairy legs would attrack smaller food items such as plankton and barnacles, etc. That, or they were trying to 'steer' you to another vacation spot. ~;^)
That trip between Iowa and Missouri is really dangerous you know.
My husband keeps saying if there is one, there are more. When we first moved here, our fifteen year old went out to swim and a little gator was in the pool. She said it was an omen.
Not yet. Louisianians go to Florida alot, especially in that area.
Rip currents kill more people every year than shark attacks. Sharks make me nervous too, but you have a greater chance of being grabbed by a rip current than a shark.
100 yds. is a LONG way offshore! I wonder what time of day it was. If it was near dusk, that's a prime feeding time for the bull and nurse sharks that are always offshore at that distance.
swimming out that far,eh? Wanted to turn your momma's hair white, did you?
Anyone that would like to read a good book on Australia should read "In a Sunburned Country" by Bill Bryson
More poisonous creatures than any place on earth,tough place wonderful people.
yep, a little bit west. I think it was Santa Rosa Island but am not sure.
I will tell you a story. In 1969 I took a graduate course at Lamar University in Ichthiology. We went on a field trip for about 10 days and seined every creek and river and lake and shore in Texas. One day we were seining McFaddin Beach, out of Port Arthur, Texas. It was summer and we had use of a 300 foot seine. It was made of nylon with a 1 inch mesh and coated with what appeared to be tar. With a seine this long it takes a lot of force to pull it thru the water, and the people on the deep end (me and another student) were neck deep. We made several passes, caught some nice speckled trout, a few red fish, lots of small sharks, a few shrimp, lots of crabs. You never knew what you would catch and it was exciting. On the third pass (one pass took about 1 hour) we were neck deep in the Gulf of Mexico when we felt a bump and a pull against this 300 foot net. Then looking about 40 feet from where our pole was tied to the seine we saw a huge tail and the water thrashing and splashing. It was pulling the net away from us. Then it went slack. We came in as quickly as we could, quiet shaken from the large "fish" that was very near to us. When we got the seine on shore and examined it, it has a hole in the nylon, tar-covered string (quiet thick, so that a strong, grown man could not have ripped a single strand). The hole was about 2 feet in diameter. I nearly evacuated my bowels on spot. We knew that there were dolphins,alligator gar, in those waters. We knew there were small (3-4 foot) sharks, but this was not any of these. The dolphin and aligator gar have conical teeth and could not have cut the nylon. The only thing we could think of that had cutting teeth and could have cut a hole in the netting was a very large aggressive shark.
You are gonna give the man insomnia, LOL. He will never sleep peacefully again!
Yes, but you can keep calm, and swim out/across the rip current, and make it back to shore in one piece. Don't know the odds of doing that with an attacking shark. It seems a bit more personal with the shark. :)
Just east of DEstin by the Mall, Silver Sands. You can walk down there.
Works for me!
Until then tho- it's a no brainer.
Sharks live in ocean. Sharks eat people.
People who dont want to be attacked by sharks
stay OUT of ocean.
Yet-in they go, and surprised they always are.
Never has been a shark attack on land- never will be.
(Sat Nite Live- Landshark! doesn't count!)
Well hello there freeper nieghbor. I too live in Walton cty.
We usually vacation at Navarre Beach although thanks to Mad Ivan this year we ended up at Mexico Beach. Destin at spring break is too crowded for me - I like a little more space! :o) And a HOUSE right ON the beach!
"swimming out that far,eh? Wanted to turn your momma's hair white, did you?"
We were let out of the gate at dawn, and gathered in at dusk.
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