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07/15/2005 Chris Humphrey (North Carolina)

Shark Attack Survivors News Archive for Shark Attacks in 2005
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sharkbait
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07/15/2005 Chris Humphrey (North Carolina)

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Man Hospitalized After Shark Attack Off N.C. Coast

HOLDEN BEACH, N.C. -- A Virginia man was sent to the hospital after a shark attack off the coast of North Carolina.

It happened at about 5 p.m. Friday evening on the 600 block of Ocean Boulevard on Holden Beach, which is about an hour away from Wilmington.

Chris Humphrey said he was swimming to a friend on a raft in deeper water when a sand shark that measured about 5 feet long bit into his forarm.

A shark's tooth was left in Humphrey's arm and had to be removed by surgery. He was released from the hospital Sunday morning.
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Shark Attack Victim Tells Story
Cary Family Who Frequents Beach Reacts

POSTED: 12:10 pm EDT July 19, 2005
UPDATED: 4:51 pm EDT July 19, 2005

HOLDEN BEACH, N.C. -- A 22-year-old man was injured when a shark attacked him at Holden Beach, a hot spot for a lot of vacationers from the Triangle.
NBC-17
Chris Humphrey, Shark Attack Victim


Chris Humphrey and his friend Phillip Seal showed NBC-17 the raft they were using Friday when the shark attacked. Seal was inside the raft at the time, and Humphrey was in the water, holding on to the raft with one hand.

"(The shark) just clamped down on my arm and, at the time, it was such a sharp pain it just felt like razor blades," Humphrey recalled. "I wasn't sure what was going on."

Humphrey said his first response was to just get whatever was on his arm off of it.

"So, I came back ... and all I could see was white. I hit something, and I felt the side of its body hit my body and it was off," Humphrey said. "It was all over in three seconds, all so quick."

Seal said he saw the front of the shark, its head, but did not see the fin come up.

"When I was kicking my feet, I had come down on it and I had actually kicked the back of it," Seal said. "When Chris was running back and I was kicking my feet ... he said, 'I'm bit,' and I saw blood."

When the Humphrey and Seal returned to shore, Humphrey's parents wrapped his arm in a towel and called 911. The six-inch gash required stitches, and pieces of the shark's teeth had to be removed in surgery. Humphrey is now keeping the teeth in a jar.

"I'm just really thankful," Humphrey said. "I still have all my fingers and (the shark) didn't get my leg or the side of my body. I think about it, and it's just really weird that I was bitten by a shark. I never thought it would happen to me."

Humphrey said it's still too soon to tell if he'll have nerve damage in his arm.

Meanwhile, the attack has made one Cary family a little worried about their next trip to the beach.

The Tamblyns told NBC-17 the attack happened just a half-mile from where they stay every year. Marjorie Tamblyn said with three girls, ages 11, 13, and 16, they're careful.

"We don't really allow them to go in the water by themselves," Tamblyn said. "(We tell them) times of the day to be in the ocean, not to wear shiny jewelry and not to wear bathing suits with sparkly things on them."

One of the Tamblyn daughters, Alexandra, is a lifeguard. She said she's glad she wasn't working where the shark bite occurred.

"I'm so glad I'm not a lifeguard over there," Alexandra Tamblyn said. "It's already tough enough job to lifeguard and the ocean, especially, is a really stressful job. (The shark attack) is just surprising and it kind of scares me."

But, the Tamblyns said the attack would not stop them from returning to Holden Beach for a tenth year.
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Shark Attack Causes Man To Strike Back

The real-life Jaws drama happened Friday afternoon just off Holden Beach in North Carolina.

Holden Beach, NC -- It's a good thing 22-year-old Chris Humphrey is right-handed. When a shark clamped down on his left arm Friday, Chris used an overhand right to smash the hungry shark in the snout, driving it away.

The real-life Jaws drama happened Friday afternoon just off Holden Beach in North Carolina.

Humphrey from Springfield, VA, was standing in the water next to a raft while little kids were only feet away when the shark attacked. His mother was watching from the beach.

"I was holding onto the raft like this and I just felt something clamp down on my arm it felt like razor blades," Humphrey said.

"It looked four and a half or five feet long...its head was about that big."

Shark observers say a "shark attack is a shark mistake." The shark is actually mistaking a human being for normal prey, such as a fish.

Since the attack, Humphrey says, "I'm just going to stick with skateboarding and volleyball. I'm done with water."

Worldwide, experts say there are about 100 shark attacks a year. Ninety percent of them are not fatal.
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Vacationer in shark attack recovering

HOLDEN BEACH, N.C.

A vacationer is recovering after a shark bite Friday, Holden Beach police say.

A 5-foot sand shark bit the 19-year-old Friday about 4:30 p.m., puncturing the Virginia man's arm but not doing serious damage, police say.

Police did not disclose the victim's name, citing health-privacy regulations.

The shark swam away after biting the man, and family members called 911, police say.

The victim underwent surgery to remove shark teeth from his arm.

There were no other shark sightings or attacks over the weekend, and this was the first incident with a shark in at least four years, police say.
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