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A teacher in Vanuatu says he twice warned the family of the New Zealand girl killed by a shark not to get into the water. Lapen Tilison told the Weekend Herald from Atchin Island that he always warned visiting yachties to stay out of the water where 7-year-old Alysha Webster of Coromandel Peninsula was fatally bitten. Mr Tilison had paddled out in a canoe to Alysha's parents' yacht just after it pulled into the attractive white, sandy bay where he lived, shortly before lunchtime on Wednesday. "They had just dropped the anchor and jumped in for a swim," he said....

A Hong Kong teenager had a nasty shock when he trailed his hand in a fountain - and got bitten by a piranha. The boy, 14, was taken to hospital where he received three stitches in his left index finger, but was not in a serious condition, officials said. Staff at the housing complex where the attack took place drained the fountain on Tuesday morning. They found three dead freshwater fish, including two piranhas of a rare breed - apparently abandoned household pets. Piranhas are popular fish in Hong Kong and can be bought at pet shops for less than...

Shark kills surfer in Hawaii From correspondents in Honolulu April 9, 2004 A SURFER has been killed while riding the waves off the coast of Hawaii in the first confirmed fatal shark attack in the island paradise in 12 years. Shark control officials in the offshore US state said 57-year-old Willis McInnis died Wednesday after being bitten on the leg while paddling for waves off Kahana Beach on the island of Maui, a key tourist destination. "I understand he received some assistance (after being attacked), got to the shore and then passed away at the scene," Randy Honebrink, a spokesman...

<p>An Escambia County sheriff's helicopter crew spotted an unusual sight Monday - an estimated 200 to 300 sharks feeding off Pensacola Beach.</p> <p>The observer had to repeat what he relayed to Sheriff's Office dispatchers as the Air One helicopter circled the sharks about 300 yards offshore, about a quarter- mile east of the Pensacola Beach Gulf Pier.</p>

Shark rips boy apart 12/09/2003 19:19 - (SA) Ziegfried Ekron Cape Town - A teenage surfer died on Friday afternoon after being bitten by a shark at Noordhoek, a popular surfing spot near Cape Town, the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) confirmed. David Bornman, 19, "was attacked by a white death shark near the Kakapo wreck off the Noordhoek beach," said NSRI station commander for Kommetjie, Clive Mortimer. Mortimer said the surfer, who was on a body board, was with five friends when the shark attacked. "The shark attacked and then released him, but the initial bite was so bad...