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.
I had heard on CNN earlier that the sharks were chasing bait fish.
They are not around during winter break, no need to be overly cautious.
I live on the island of Oahu, in the past 2 wks they've had to close several beaches due to pools of sharks. The cause, someone dumped fish heads in the water. I was told by a local fisherman that the Hawaiians use to control the shark population by dumping fish heads in the water. Then they would boil Bread Fruit and dump them in the water where the sharks where. The sharks would eat the bread fruit, the bread fruit would then swell and explode in their stomachs killing them.
I have been to Bayou Pigeon but never fished there. My Dad would have a gun on his hip, a bottle of bourben and would be incredibly cheerful. I think he thought we liked it. But I was scared all the time of those snakes. He said he would kill the snake, if it fell in, with a boat oar but I think he would have shot it. Then I worried there would be a hole in the boat and it would sink. Then all the other snakes would swim up and bite us and we would all be dead. I wasn't much fun as a daughter of an outdoorsy man who had no sons. I was the best of the lot in son like qualities but my being a ninny was disappointing for him.
hey, he shouldn't feel bad. some developer would have probably sued him to build a big fancy condo on it.
Bread fruit does that? Dang, sounds like a good way to kill someone. Or to go on a diet. Eat one and you can't eat anything else.
not all, but some can.
There are days you should just stay at home. :o)
And PS: I bet your daddy treasured his little princess
I am so jealous. It has been probably 3 years since I have been there. Poor college student here, so I don't exactly have load of cash to drop.
If I can get my roommate or somebody to go with me over spring break, I can save up some money to go in late March, the end of the busy season so it will be more expensive. There are a couple decent hotels in Fort Myers for 70 bucks a night (considering most hotels here in KS are just 30 bucks a night, 70 bucks a night is expensive as crap, not to mention most hotels in Fort Myers even, which are above 100 bucks), and I could split the cost with the roommate, as well as car rental etc.
I want to go back so bad..lol
Um.....water moccasins IN THE TREES?
That is just freaky. We have them here in KS, but they are..in the WATER.
Did you see Craig Ferguson on CBS last night?
That guy is a great talk show host, and he spent literally 10 minutes just ripping into Tom Cruise.
It was great.
He said, "I hope one day celebrities will realize they need to shut up about things they don't know *$&$ about."
I was rolling on the floor. It was great.
lots of changes since the hurricane last year. south seas plantation is closed until 2006 and all the canopy that used to hang over the road in captiva is gone. many trees simply uprooted, their huge base of roots just lying on their side.
the water table is so high down there right now that there are standing pools of water EVERYWHERE, including over the road. plus the charge just to use the causeway is doubled to 6 bucks so they can fix the causeway. but all in all, it is still as beautiful as it was. LOTS of buildings and houses were damaged in the hurricane though.
hope when you get "settled" in life, you are able to return on a regular basis. you never know.
A tag line on the ABC on the hour radio news says, "there have been shark problems in this area before". What an crock.
I surely would love to go in the ocean with a pro diver ANYTIME. Hey, can I still try it at 66? I am an excellent swimmer and did scuba Cancun reefs.
Yes it is a shame about the 14 yo girl.
There are no seals in the Gulf of Mexico. Or on the east coast of Florida either.
Hey, Cajungirl, did you know she was from Louisiana?
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/S/SHARK_ATTACK?SITE=LABAT&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2005-06-25-18-20-40
I am glad the damage isn't as bad as I thought it would be last year.
I expected the whole place to just be wiped out.
I Live on the west coast of Florida, 40 miles north of St. Pete. I was fishing with my nephew, wading in 3 feet of water, 25 feet from shore and had a 5 foot shark circle me, and my nephew. Needless to say my nephew wrapped himself around my head. As far as attacks go, sharks are amazingly stupid and will take a chunk out of you, just to know if your worth eating. That's life...don't like sharks....do your swimming at the community pool.
haha Well the Hawaiians eat this but its cut up and cooked. The taste is similar to a sweet potatoe. I've tried it and well YUCK. THe size of this fruit is bigger than a softwall. THe outside lining is very thick. They par boil the fruit whole with the outer lining to just get the smell and flavor. Then dump it with the water into the ocean. We've had several attacks here recently including Maui.
I kill them, dunk them in beer batter and fry them. Good eating.
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