UPDATE: Man Eaten By Shark in San Diego!!

****UPDATE 4 From Swim at Your Own Risk****

Victim Pic in

Contrary to earlier reports he still appears to have legs but they don’t look good.

Original Story:

From TransNewsWorld:

Man Killed in Shark Attack off San Diego Coast

Atlanta, Ga. 4/25/2008 04:33 PM GMT (FINDITT)

A man was killed in a shark attack off the coast of San Diego Friday morning.

According to reports surfers spotted the man swimming in the waters of Solana Beach in an area known as Fletcher’s Cove. They then noticed the man begin to struggle and after they reached to help him they saw that he had been attacked by a shark and had both his legs severed at the knee.

By the time they were able to get the man to shore he had died.

Southern California has been awash in White Shark sightings since the beginning of March. Check out the details at Pacific Coast Shark News. Local news has been poo-pooing these sitings as hoaxes. Obviously not. This sounds like either a White Shark – likely, due to all the sightings – or a Bull/Tiger Shark.

SoCal Sighting History:

Hermosa Beach — On April 17
Bolsa Chica State Beach — On April 10
San Onofre, Trail Five — On April 7
Huntington Beach — On March 26
Huntington Beach — On March 22
Santa Monica Beach — On March 14
San Onofre, Trail One — On March 8
Huntington Beach (*this was an attack) — On March 7
San Onofre, Trail One — On March 5

*UPDATE* (via avacado at Free Republic): Eyewitness Account up at Surfer magazine:

ATTACK EYEWITNESS: Longtime Solana Beach Surfer Ira Opper Describes Attack

Interview by
Brad Melekian
Senior Editor SURFER Magazine

A man was fatally attacked by a shark this morning in Solana Beach. While details are still unfolding, we got this first-person account from long-time Solana Beach surfer Ira Opper, who was at the beach at the time of the attack.

You know, it was my morning surf check at Pillbox. All of a sudden, somebody—I thought they said somebody had a heart attack, and they asked the public works person to remove their truck from the beach access because they were there cleaning up. All of the sudden, you hear all the sirens, they went up toward Tabletops and then eventually one of the ambulances pulled in to Fletcher Cove and then there were about three or four people in wetsuits sort of in shock. And then a girl comes running up the ramp screaming, “He’s bleeding to death! He’s bleeding to death!” The paramedic calmed her down, saying, “There’s people there, they came down from Tabletop, I’m on the radio, they’re doing everything they can.” They calmed her down. Within three to five more minutes, the lifeguards and the paramedics had the victim in the back of one of the lifeguard trucks, they brought him up to Fletcher Cove and probably for the next twenty minutes, they performed CPR. Administered whatever medicine that they do in that situation, and they continued doing CPR. Mercy Airvac landed on the beach, they came up and within 15-20 minutes of CPR, they sort of backed off. He bled to death. His whole lower body—wetsuit, legs—were shredded. I asked the Captain of the Lifeguards what he thinks happened and he said a “very, very large shark” attacked. I talked to another gentleman who was walking up the beach actually before it happened. It turned out he had walked up the beach and saw a sea lion on the beach that looked very distressed. Something you don’t see too often around here, especially on the beach.

The triathlete crew were training. They said it was outside the surf line, so it was somewhere between Tabletops and Fletcher Cove. Older guy. Looked like he was in his late 50s, fairly great shape, fairly big guy.

**UPDATE 2 (Via Perseverando at free Republic)** Live NBC San Diego Coverage Here.

More On The Story Here.

***UPDATE 3 (Via Swim At Your Own Risk)*** Chopper shot of the rescue station. The yellow tarp is covering – well, you know.