Latest Shark attack Stories

Fatal shark attacks worldwide dipped to their lowest levels in two decades in 2007 with the sole casualty involving a swimmer vacationing in the South Pacific, according to the latest statistics from the University of Florida.Except for 1987, when there were no fatalities, the last year a single human death occurred from a shark attack was in 1985, said George Burgess, director of the International Shark Attack File housed at UF's Florida Museum of Natural History. By comparison, there were...

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - A South African lifeguard had his foot bitten "clean off" when a shark attacked him during a training exercise off a beach near Cape Town, officials said. Achmat Hassiem, 24, and his brother and fellow lifeguard Taariq, 17, were in the water off False Bay on Sunday when Achmat spotted a shark and yelled to his brother to get into a nearby boat. "I got in the boat. The shark turned and went straight for my brother," Taariq told the SAPA news agency. "I stuck my...

By Chris Michaud NEW YORK (Reuters) - Peter Benchley, author of the bestseller "Jaws" that was the basis for the blockbuster movie that terrified beachgoers and kept many out of the water for years, died at his home at age 65, his family said on Sunday. Benchley, well-known for other water-based suspense fiction including "The Deep" and "The Island," which also spawned films, died of complications from pulmonary fibrosis, his son-in-law Chris Turner told Reuters. Benchley was diagnosed...

By Chris MichaudNEW YORK -- Peter Benchley, author of the bestseller "Jaws" that was the basis for the blockbuster movie that terrified beachgoers and kept many out of the water for years, died at his home at age 65, his family said on Sunday.Benchley, well-known for other water-based suspense fiction including "The Deep" and "The Island," which also spawned films, died of complications from pulmonary fibrosis, his son-in-law Chris Turner told Reuters.Benchley...

By Chris MichaudNEW YORK (Reuters) - Peter Benchley, the author of the bestseller "Jaws" which was made into a blockbuster movie that kept beachgoers out of the water for years, died at his home at age 65, his family said on Sunday.Benchley, well-known for other water-based suspense fiction including "The Deep" and "The Island," both of which also spawned films, died of complications from pulmonary fibrosis, his son-in-law Chris Turner told Reuters.Benchley was...

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Emergency crews were set to resume their search at first light on Thursday for a diver taken by a shark in the sea off Australia's rugged southern coast. The man was one of two university researchers who had been diving off a boat to collect cuttlefish eggs about 2 km (1.2 miles) off Glenelg, near the South Australian state capital, Adelaide, when the shark struck. Colleagues hauled the second man back onto the boat but the shark used its snout to push the first...

MIAMI (Reuters) - A 19-year-old Austrian tourist wasattacked by a shark along Florida's Gulf Coast on Friday, thethird victim in less than a week of the ferocious predatorsthat roam the waters around the Florida peninsula. Armin Trojer from Baden, Austria, was bitten on the rightankle by the shark while swimming in chest-deep waters off BocaGrande, 140 miles northwest of Miami, said Lee County Sheriff'sDeputy Angelo Vaughn. Vaughn said the extent of Trojer's injuries was not clearbut "it's...

MIAMI (Reuters) - A 16-year-old boy fishing in waist-deepwater off Florida's panhandle was bitten by a shark on Monday,the second shark attack along Florida's Gulf coast in threedays, officials said. Craig Hutto, 16, of Lebanon, Tennessee, was rushed byrescue helicopter to a hospital in Panama City, where he wasinitially in critical condition, officials said. Doctorsamputated his right leg, according to media reports. "The patient has been stabilized. He's no longer critical,"said Christa...

COLLEGE STATION -- Which is more likely to happen - you being in a car wreck or being bitten by a shark? Those who answered that cars are greater killers win a free trip to the beach. It's really no contest, says a Texas A&M University professor. Your chances of being in a wreck are far greater than being a shark's lunch, says John McEachran, a professor of wildlife and fishery sciences who has studied sharks for years. Worldwide, about one million people a year are killed in auto...