09/21/2002 Garry Turner ( Oregon )
Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2005 12:28 am
A shark bit a boogie boarder on the left ankle, tearing flesh down to the bone, hospital officials said. Garry Turner, 24
SEP.22.2002
PORTLAND, Ore.
(AP) -- A shark bit a boogie boarder on the left ankle, tearing flesh down to the bone, hospital officials said.
Garry Turner, 24 of Portland swam back to the beach Saturday and was taken to Samaritan North Lincoln Hospital in Lincoln City, and then sent by ambulance to Portland, said hospital spokesman Brandon Ford.
Turner was listed in fair condition Sunday.
He and two friends were boogie boarding and surfing off Cape Kiwanda near Pacific City. Turner said the three were waiting for waves about 200 feet from the coast when the shark attacked.
"I was sitting on my boogie board and talking when something grabbed my foot and tried to pull it straight down," Turner said from his hospital bed.
Turner said he didn't immediately realize he had been bitten. Wearing fins, his first reaction was to free his foot by kicking hard and thrusting himself back on the board.
But the shark circled back, and it was then that the three realized what had happened.
"My friend yelled, 'Shark. Shark"' Turner said. "I saw the gills just as it was dropping back in the water."
The three then paddled vigorously toward the shore and the shark apparently lost interest.
Witnesses told emergency workers that the shark was about eight-feet long and seemed to lunge out of the water. Area fishermen said it was likely a blue or a sand shark, among the most common types in that part of the Pacific Ocean.
Turner will likely make a full recovery because the bite didn't sever tendons, hospital officials said.
Ford said the last time a shark bite victim had come to his hospital was six years ago, when a surfer was bitten on the thigh. It was believed a great white was involved in that attack. That person made a full recovery, he said.
SEP.22.2002
PORTLAND, Ore.
(AP) -- A shark bit a boogie boarder on the left ankle, tearing flesh down to the bone, hospital officials said.
Garry Turner, 24 of Portland swam back to the beach Saturday and was taken to Samaritan North Lincoln Hospital in Lincoln City, and then sent by ambulance to Portland, said hospital spokesman Brandon Ford.
Turner was listed in fair condition Sunday.
He and two friends were boogie boarding and surfing off Cape Kiwanda near Pacific City. Turner said the three were waiting for waves about 200 feet from the coast when the shark attacked.
"I was sitting on my boogie board and talking when something grabbed my foot and tried to pull it straight down," Turner said from his hospital bed.
Turner said he didn't immediately realize he had been bitten. Wearing fins, his first reaction was to free his foot by kicking hard and thrusting himself back on the board.
But the shark circled back, and it was then that the three realized what had happened.
"My friend yelled, 'Shark. Shark"' Turner said. "I saw the gills just as it was dropping back in the water."
The three then paddled vigorously toward the shore and the shark apparently lost interest.
Witnesses told emergency workers that the shark was about eight-feet long and seemed to lunge out of the water. Area fishermen said it was likely a blue or a sand shark, among the most common types in that part of the Pacific Ocean.
Turner will likely make a full recovery because the bite didn't sever tendons, hospital officials said.
Ford said the last time a shark bite victim had come to his hospital was six years ago, when a surfer was bitten on the thigh. It was believed a great white was involved in that attack. That person made a full recovery, he said.