Wednesday, August 18, 2004 Posted: 10:45 AM EDT (1445 GMT)
UKIAH, California (AP) -- The Coast Guard has recovered the headless body of a diver who was killed by a shark off the Mendocino County coast.
Randy Fry, 50, was attacked Sunday afternoon in shallow water near Westport while diving for abalone with a companion.
Fry's body was recovered Monday; the companion escaped injury.
A friend of Fry's estimated the shark was between 16 to 18 feet long. "It was over in five seconds," said Red Bartley, who witnessed the fatal encounter from a boat.
It was the state's first shark fatality since August a year ago.
-and on the same incident-
Divernet News, dateline 18 August 2004
Diver killed by shark in California
50-year-old Randy Fry was diving for abalone off the northern Californian coast on Sunday 15 August when he was attacked and killed by a 6-metre-long shark.
Fry was diving with two friends on abalone beds in 6 metres, just off Ten Mile River Beach, Westport. Fellow diver Red Bartley witnessed the attack from the dive boat, and acted quickly to haul the remaining diver, Cliff Zimmerman out of the sea and back into the safety of the boat.
Zimmerman had been barely a metre away from Fry when the attack occurred and recounted the sensation of the shark coming past him in the water like a torpedo, just before the water became clouded with blood.
The shark is likely to have been a great white, but the attack was described as being 'over in five seconds' and neither witness could provide a positive identification.
US Coastguard recovered Fry's headless body on Monday and his remains were formally identified.
California's last fatal shark attack was in August 2003 when a woman swimming with seals was attacked close to a beach in southern California.
Shark attacks on divers are extremely rare, and the majority involve divers who are spear-fishing. For statistics, see International Shark Attack File website
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What a helluva' way to go:
"...la de da de daaaaaaaaaaaaa...a-ba-lo-ne, a-ba-lo-ne, AHHHHHH!"SCRUNCH!burble, burble, burble...
I think that the most pitiful thing in this world sometimes is a senseless or freak end to an otherwise productive life. I mean how STUPID! You are supposedly homo fuggin' sapiens sapiens- master of all you survey and top of the food chain. You lead a good life, have a wife and kids...and then some loser forever ends the existence of your genetic line because he was bummed about a 35-and-over adult league softball loss and decided to drink a fifth of rum until the wee hours before driving to work on Monday morning. Same thing here- getting your head bit off by a shark that most likely just mistook you for a seal because of the black wetsuit and light penetration conditions. And the shark doesn't get to finish the meal, so food is wasted...and the family doesn't get an open casket without the artistic wizardry of Madame Toussauds or a 3rd degree black belt in papier mache. It just sucks that all who deserve it can't come to a heroic or dignified end.
UKIAH, California (AP) -- The Coast Guard has recovered the headless body of a diver who was killed by a shark off the Mendocino County coast.
Randy Fry, 50, was attacked Sunday afternoon in shallow water near Westport while diving for abalone with a companion.
Fry's body was recovered Monday; the companion escaped injury.
A friend of Fry's estimated the shark was between 16 to 18 feet long. "It was over in five seconds," said Red Bartley, who witnessed the fatal encounter from a boat.
It was the state's first shark fatality since August a year ago.
-and on the same incident-
Divernet News, dateline 18 August 2004
Diver killed by shark in California
50-year-old Randy Fry was diving for abalone off the northern Californian coast on Sunday 15 August when he was attacked and killed by a 6-metre-long shark.
Fry was diving with two friends on abalone beds in 6 metres, just off Ten Mile River Beach, Westport. Fellow diver Red Bartley witnessed the attack from the dive boat, and acted quickly to haul the remaining diver, Cliff Zimmerman out of the sea and back into the safety of the boat.
Zimmerman had been barely a metre away from Fry when the attack occurred and recounted the sensation of the shark coming past him in the water like a torpedo, just before the water became clouded with blood.
The shark is likely to have been a great white, but the attack was described as being 'over in five seconds' and neither witness could provide a positive identification.
US Coastguard recovered Fry's headless body on Monday and his remains were formally identified.
California's last fatal shark attack was in August 2003 when a woman swimming with seals was attacked close to a beach in southern California.
Shark attacks on divers are extremely rare, and the majority involve divers who are spear-fishing. For statistics, see International Shark Attack File website
_______________________________________________________________
What a helluva' way to go:
"...la de da de daaaaaaaaaaaaa...a-ba-lo-ne, a-ba-lo-ne, AHHHHHH!"SCRUNCH!burble, burble, burble...
I think that the most pitiful thing in this world sometimes is a senseless or freak end to an otherwise productive life. I mean how STUPID! You are supposedly homo fuggin' sapiens sapiens- master of all you survey and top of the food chain. You lead a good life, have a wife and kids...and then some loser forever ends the existence of your genetic line because he was bummed about a 35-and-over adult league softball loss and decided to drink a fifth of rum until the wee hours before driving to work on Monday morning. Same thing here- getting your head bit off by a shark that most likely just mistook you for a seal because of the black wetsuit and light penetration conditions. And the shark doesn't get to finish the meal, so food is wasted...and the family doesn't get an open casket without the artistic wizardry of Madame Toussauds or a 3rd degree black belt in papier mache. It just sucks that all who deserve it can't come to a heroic or dignified end.
:devil: :evil: :trophy_br
