Shark Attack

We never add our own comments or opinions to reports of Shark Attack Related Incidents listed here, we let you decide what is important to you. This is one of those incidents that my own experience of being attacked by a shark has some relevance to this incident.

I arrived at the hospital DOA if I had not been revived my cause of death would have been ruled the same as Richard Snead.

I was ripped off my surfboard taken underwater by the shark, fought with the shark in turmoil of water at the surface these things caused my lungs to have enough water in them for me to have been considered drowned. I had two tubes inserted into my lungs and had several weeks of treatment to remove all the water from my lungs.

If a shark attack caused my lungs to have water in them and I had a surfboard for flotation. It is very possible for sharks to have the ability to drown people in other incidents before death or cause a drowning death.

Another thing about my attack is if I wasn’t able to get the shark to let go and died as the shark was removing flesh from my arm. The tissue proving I was alive at the time of the attack would have been removed, leaving tissue that would have proved I would have been scavenged by a shark.

I also keep an open mind on fatalities ruled as scavenged.

The difference between a shark attack fatality and a drowning can be a few seconds. The difference between a shark attack fatality and scavenged body can be one bite away.

Al Brenneka
1976 Lemon Shark Attack Survivor - Amputee

Final report: Outer Banks swimmer drowned, didn't die from shark bites
by Dottie Wikan

Posted on January 5, 2010 at 3:01 PM

******

CURRITUCK CO., NC -- A shark did not kill a swimmer on the Outer Banks in September 2009, according to the North Carolina medical examiner.

A report sent to WVEC.com says 60-year-old Richard Allen Snead's death is "attributed to accidental drowning and not to shark attack."

The autopsy says there were bite marks on his back, multiple small bites on his face, left hand and forearm, lacerations on his face and one of his vertebrae had been fractured, and that those injuries occurred after he'd died.

The report doesn't state how the bites were inflicted.

Snead, who was vacationing with his family from Ross Township, PA, was last seen alive around 9:00 p.m. on September 12; his body washed ashore 18 miles away at Kill Devil Hills five days later.

The intial report in the days following his death indicated he died of a shark attack, but weeks later, that ruling was reversed and the Medical Examiner asked for a review of the evidence to find a definitive cause of death.

According to the report, "Information about scene circumstances (dark, northeast winds with coastal warnings, and 74F water) and shark behavior as well as review of images of the body with marine biologists led to the conclusion that death was not likely
due to shark attack."


http://www.wvec.com/news/local/Shark-bi ... 15182.html

Case of swimmer thought killed by shark reviewed

Previous: Autopsy: Shark killed man who washed up in Kill Devil Hills
By Matthew Bowers
The Virginian-Pilot
© October 17, 2009

North Carolina's medical examiner's office reversed itself twice Friday, first saying that a Pittsburgh vacationer found washed up on the Outer Banks last month was not killed by a shark as first reported, but died from "accidental drowning."

Hours later, the office reverted to its original conclusion after getting another opinion.

But this "continued uncertainty" means the case requires further review, said Crystal Baity in an e-mail. She's a spokeswoman for East Carolina University, where the autopsy was conducted.

The body of Richard A. Snead, 60, was found Sept. 17 by another tourist in Kill Devil Hills. Snead had been reported missing days earlier after going for a late-night swim.

The medical examiner's office blamed shark bites for his death at the time.

The office on Wednesday came to the drowning conclusion, Baity wrote, after analyzing circumstances at the scene and shark behavior, and reviewing images of the body with marine biologists, and confirmed it earlier Friday.

But later in the day, another researcher expressed a different opinion, leading officials to stay with the shark-bite scenario, Baity said.

She said she didn't know how long the final review would take. If shark bites are confirmed as the cause of death, it would be the first such reported attack in the region in more than eight years.

http://hamptonroads.com/2009/10/uncerta ... ack-victim

Pittsburgh Man Killed In OBX Shark Attack Memorialized
Posted: 2:05 pm EDT September 18, 2009
Updated: 3:50 pm EDT September 21, 2009

ROSS TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- A viewing will be held Monday night for the Ross Township man who was killed in a rare shark attack off the coast of Kill Devil Hills.

Richard Snead, 60, went missing Saturday after he told his wife he was going for a swim in the ocean near their vacation spot in Corolla. His body was found Thursday and police identified him Friday.

Neighbors said Friday night that Snead had a passion for the outdoors and they are not surprised he went out for a swim. "He decided to go around 7:30 for a swim, went out by himself, but never came back," said Al Bialek.

Even more disturbing to long-time neighbor Bialek is that the medical examiner said Snead died from a rare shark attack. Bialek said swimming is one of many activities that filled Snead's life. "Rock repelling, climbing mountains, hiking, he did everything," he said.

Bialek said nearly 20 family members were on that Outer Banks vacation so he was surrounded in his last days by those he loved. "Very good father and very good husband, just became a new grandfather about a year ago and has another one on the way," said Bialek.

Officials said the beach was marked with red flags on Saturday, warning people to stay out of the water because of dangerous conditions. The medical examiner said Snead died from extensive shark bites.

The viewing will be held at T-B Devlin Funeral Home in North Hills from 5 to 9 p.m.

Snead’s funeral will be held Tuesday at St. Sebastian’s church.


http://www.wpxi.com/news/20989479/detail.html

Autopsy: Shark killed man who washed up in Kill Devil Hills

By Cindy Clayton
Patrick Wilson
The Virginian-Pilot
© September 18, 2009
KILL DEVIL HILLS, N.C.

A Pittsburgh man whose body washed up in Kill Devil Hills, N.C., after he went for a late-night swim off Corolla died from extensive shark bites, according to police and the medical examiner's office.

The man's body was discovered Thursday morning in the 1300 block of N. Virginia Dare Trail by a tourist who was taking an early-morning walk, according to the Kill Devil Hills Police Department.

The man was identified as Richard A. Snead, 60, of Ross Township in Pittsburgh. The body was taken to the regional medical examiner's office in Greenville; the cause of death "has been determined to be injuries sustained from a shark bite," according to a news release from the Currituck County Sheriff's Office.

An autopsy assistant at the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University, where the autopsy was done, said Snead suffered extensive injuries, including internal injuries. There is no question that the shark attack caused his death, she said.

"Living tissues look different when they receive an injury, versus tissues that are already dead," she said. The full autopsy report is not yet available.

Officials had not determined what type of shark attacked Snead.

When Snead hadn't returned from his swim shortly before 1 a.m. Sunday, his family reported him missing, authorities said. Red flags were posted Saturday warning people to stay out of the surf.

The Sheriff's Office today was warning swimmers to be alert "and to be aware that this incident occurred while the person was swimming at night," the release says. Snead had gone into the water at mile post 4 1/2; the mile post is measured beginning at the Currituck County-Dare County line.

"I haven't heard of any (shark) sightings, but I haven't checked with any other jurisdictions," Currituck County Sheriff Susan Johnson said today. The drowning death of a 12-year-old boy who drowned late last month did not appear to be shark-related, she added.

Johnson couldn't recall any recent shark bites, she said.

Experts say avoid swimming at night

Last year, there were 41 shark attacks in the United States; one was fatal, said Maylon White, the director of exhibits and animal husbandry at the Virginia Aquarium.

“Shark attacks are really a fairly rare event when you consider how many people in the United States go swimming, how many people are in the water each year,” he said. “There’s very little chance of something like this, as tragic as it is, happening to an individual.”

For safety, swimmers should not swim alone and should avoid swimming at twilight or at night, he said.

“The thinking is, during twilight hours, when you’re moving from dark to light or light to dark, this is when many animals feed. Sharks are in that category and so they’re looking for food,” he said. “They don’t look to humans for food, but if we happen to get in the way then we suffer the consequences.”

Two 2001 shark-attack deaths

The latest reported shark attacks were in September 2001, when two people were killed and a third was hurt off Virginia and North Carolina beachs.

On Sept. 1, 2001, David Peltier, 10, was surfing with his family at Sandbridge Beach when a shark bite severed a main artery and he died. Peltier's death was the first ever by a shark attack in Virginia history and the first that year in the United States.

Experts said at the time that Peltier could have been bitten by a bull shark because of the location and time of year that the attack occurred.

Two days after Peltier's death, Sergei Zaloukaev, 28, was swimming in shallow water of Avon off Hatteras Island in Dare County, N.C., with his girlfriend when they were attacked by a shark. Zaloukaev was killed, but his girlfriend, Natalia Slobodskaya, survived. In that case, experts said they believed the couple could have been bitten by a tiger shark or bull shark.

The attacks set off a wave of shark hysteria. But in 2002, a study released by researchers at the University of Florida's International Shark Attack File showed that attacks in 2001 actually decreased.

The researchers recorded 76 unprovoked attacks worldwide in 2001, compared with 85 in 2000. The number of people killed in shark attacks also dropped to five in 2001 from 12 the previous year.

News researcher Jakon Hayes contributed to this report.


http://hamptonroads.com/2009/09/autopsy ... evil-hills

Swimmer missing off of Outer Banks was killed by shark - The State Medical Examiners Office in Greenville has determined the cause of death to be injuries sustained from a shark bite.




Swimmer missing off of Outer Banks was killed by shark


Corolla, NC - The body of a 60-year-old Pennsylvania man who disappeared while swimming at night off of Corolla last week was found yesterday on the beach in Kill Devil Hills. The State Medical Examiners Office in Greenville has determined the cause of death to be injuries sustained from a shark bite.

Richard A. Snead of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania was last seen swimming near mile post 4 1/2 in Corolla sometime after 9pm on September 12 and was reported to be missing a short time after midnight by his family.

The Sheriff's Office advises swimmers to be alert in the water and to be aware that this incident occurred while swimming after dark. There are no recent recorded incidents of anyone sustaining a shark bite while swimming off the beaches of Currituck County since 2000.


http://www.wtkr.com/news/wtkr-shark-att ... 6473.story