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06/19/2011 Ceford Lewis ( Turks and Caicos )

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helmi
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Re: 06/19/2011 Ceford Lewis ( Turks and Caicos )

Post by helmi »

Shark attacks fisherman
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A FISHERMAN is lucky to be alive after a shark bit into his leg while he was out spear-fishing on Sunday morning.
Cefor Lewis, 35, lost about 40 per cent of his blood following the attack which took place between Providenciales and French Cay.
Luckily he arrived at Cheshire Hall Medical Centre just in time for staff to save his life and severely injured limb.
Haitian-born Cefor was out on a fishing trip with his brother Joelyn Pierre and another friend early on Sunday morning.
They sailed up towards French Cay and at about 10am they stopped to allow Cefor to get into the water to do some spear-fishing.
Joelyn told the Weekly News that his brother had wanted to shoot a shark, but he warned him not to.
After a diving down in the water he resurfaced a few minutes later yelling and screaming.
Joelyn said: “When I turned the boat to go to him, I saw a shark lift him high out of the water.”
He described the shark as an adult of about five feet long, and said it was not a tiger shark.
Joelyn grabbed his brother and dragged him out of the water and into the boat and they set off for Providenciales.
“There was a lot of blood. The only thing I could tell him was: ‘You’re a Christian man, you aren’t gonna be dead’.
“I saw the shark lift him up – if it had bitten him in the belly or some place like that he would be dead.
“The only one thing I know is that God gave him life and gave him a chance.”
The journey took about an hour back to Provo and in the meantime Joelyn called his boss and arranged for an ambulance to meet them at the dock.
On arrival he was quickly taken to Cheshire Hall Medical Centre for treatment.
A spokesperson for Interhealth Canada said: “He suffered a large bite through the muscles on his right mid calf.
“He suffered considerable blood loss during the boat journey back to South Dock, where he was met by an ambulance and rushed to the ED department at Cheshire Hall Medical Centre.
“His life was in serious danger due to the loss of blood.”
Cefor was initially seen by Dr Roger Callaghan who told media that the injury was “luckily mostly soft tissue injury so the leg itself was viable”.
Dr Callaghan and his team immediately set about cleaning up the wound, rehydrating him and resuscitating him with two units of blood.
He was then taken into theatre where surgery was carried out to save his leg, and on Tuesday he had further clean up surgery.
Dr Callaghan told the media that this is the first live shark attack victim that the hospital had seen.
“He was lucky that he was able to get here, and lucky he didn’t bleed any more,” he said.
“The main artery didn’t seem to have been cut, so that’s what saved his life.”
By Rebecca Bird
http://tcweeklynews.com/shark-attacks-f ... 2430-1.htm
alb
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Joined: Fri Jun 18, 2010 7:41 pm

06/19/2011 Ceford Lewis ( Turks and Caicos )

Post by alb »

Haitian fisherman survives shark attack


In a country where surfing is virtually non-existent, shark attacks are very rare. Even so, there are those moments where Turks and Caicos is reminded that it shares the ocean with the infamous predators.

On Sunday, June 19th, one diver was reminded of this when he went spear fishing and had an encounter with one, which he will undoubtedly remember for the rest of his life. Ceford Lewis, age 25, was more fortunate than many in his encounter with a shark, which he described to be nearly five feet in length. Though this size shows that the shark was relatively young, it still managed to take a chunk out of the right calf of the young man.

Due to the fact that Ceford was not fluent in English, his older brother Joeselyn Pierre acted as a translator as well as a witness to the attack, in an interview with the SUN. “If it was a tiger shark, I would never see my brother again,” he said.

Lewis had been spear fishing near French Cay, which is nearly an hour away from Providenciales by boat, when the attack happened. Joeselyn Pierre said he saw the shark hoist his brother in the air before pulling him back under. Luckily the other diver managed to get a shot on the shark, giving Ceford the opportunity to swim back to the boat. Helped by his brother, Ceford managed to get back on the boat, though the shark was still attached to his leg, refusing to let go. After Joeselyn removed the shark, he wrapped his brother’s leg as best as he could, then made his way back to Providenciales; forced to travel slower to avoid causing his brother unnecessary pain.

Ceford was fortunate. Managing to make it to the hospital in time to get surgery, Ceford was glad that he survived the encounter, even making a joke about it.

“This was the first Sunday that I went fishing; I didn’t go to church, and I got bitten by a shark. God is good,” he said. Doctor Tim Callaghan remarked on the condition of Ceford as he entered the hospital; describing him as being semi-conscious and losing approximately 40% of his blood when he arrived.

Ceford had to be resuscitated before entering the operating theater. Due to the nature of the injury, the surgery had to occur in stages, through the span of a few days. The surgery involved removing infected or dead tissue, a blood transfusion, then sealing the wound. Luckily for Ceford, he did not have to have his leg amputated. Even though the man arrived in such poor condition, doctors are confident that he will have a good recovery though it will take a few months before he is fully recovered.

This is the first shark attack victim to be treated in the new hospital facility due to the rarity of shark attacks in the Turks and Caicos; which has no surfers to be mistakenly identified. The speculation is that the attack occurred because of the fact that the men were spear fishing, which results in increased shark presence due to blood in the water. Though swimmers and divers should always be cautious, they should not be deterred from swimming because of this attack.

By David Newlands

http://www.suntci.com/
We have another tool we are building at https://sharkattacks.net
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