Hai beisst 9-jährige Surferin am Strand von Viano

Ein 9 Jähriges Mädchen wurde anscheinend am Sonntag beim Surfen von einem Hai gebissen. Der Unfall ereignete sich nach Angaben der Behörden im Norden des St.Augustine Eingangs am Vilano Strand (Johns Grafschaft).

Es ist noch nicht bekannt, wo und wie sie gebissen, verletzt wurde. Gemäss Behörden wurde das Mädchen ins Krankenhaus eingeliefert.

Ihr Zustand und der Name des Mädchens wurden nicht freigegeben.

Unten eine der vielen Meldungen aus der Presse in der Region:

Shark bites 9-year-old surfer at Vilano Beach

By The Florida Times-Union

June 18, 2007

A 9-year-old St. Johns County girl was apparently bitten by a shark Sunday while surfing north of the St. Augustine Inlet at Vilano Beach.

The girl walked to her home nearby and was taken to Flagler Hospital by St. Johns County Fire Rescue, said department spokesman Jeremy Robshaw.

The name of the girl was not released.

Robshaw said the attack happened about 4:30 p.m. when the girl was surfing in the 3800 block of Coastal Highway.

He said he did not know where the bite was located.

"We've had a couple of other instances of bites [this year], but this is the first one that appeared to be a shark bite," he said.

Quelle: The St.Augustine

Nachtrag Haibiss Vilano Strand:

Für die 9 jährige Kasey Schmidt wurde ein Tag am Strand zu drei Tagen im Krankenhaus, nachdem sie „anscheinend“ durch einen Hai am Vilano-Strand gebissen wurde.

Strandbehörden verwenden das Wort „anscheinend“, weil die Wunde keinen Hinweis auf einen Haibiss gebe. Die Schmidt-Familie, langjärige Strandbewohner, ist davon überzeugt das es ein Hai war.

Zur Zeit wird der Unfall untersucht ob es sich in der Tat um einen Hai-Biss handelt. „Wir haben bereits den Untersuch eingeleitet,“ sagte Str.Johns Grafschaft Aquatics Betriebsleiter Dave Williams am Mittwoch. Ungefähr drei Haibisse werden jedes Jahr in der Grafschaft bestätigt, sagte er.

Hier die Original Pressemitteilung vom 21.07.2007 in The St.AugustineRecord:

'Shark bite' slows victim

Group investigates incident; victim not ready to go back into the ocean

For 9-year-old Kasey Schmidt, a day at the beach turned into three days in the hospital after she was apparently bitten by a shark off Vilano Beach.

Beach authorities are using the word apparently, because no one saw the shark and no teeth were found in the wound. The Schmidt family, longtime beach residents, is convinced it was a shark.

An organization known as the International Shark Attack File is investigation and will decide if it indeed was a shark that bit Kasey.

"We've already initiated the process," said St. Johns County Aquatics Superintendent Dave Williams Wednesday. About three shark bites are confirmed each year in the county, he said.

"There's a whole lot that goes into it. It's pretty rare you get a true confirmation." Williams said.

Kasey Schmidt, who turns 10 on July 7, is no stranger to the water. She's been surfing with her mother since she was 3 and plans to swim competitively in the Junior Olympics in Gainesville in July.

"I started surfing when I was 4. I've been tandem surfing with my mom since I was 3," Schmidt said. While she swims a great deal it's more often in a pool. About once a week, however, she heads out to surf in front of her house at Vilano.

That's where she was Sunday around 5 p.m. Her mother, Brandi, was sitting on a surfboard waiting for a wave and Kasey had already caught her wave and headed toward the shore.

"I basically sort of felt it," said Kasey Schmidt, describing how she fell off the board, started tumbling in the water and felt the shark bite. "Something bumped into my board."

Her mother heard her daughter scream and knew something out of the ordinary had happened. She still isn't sure how she got to her daughter's side but her daughter was at the edge of the shore and blood was pouring out of her right inside thigh. She used the leash on the surfboard to make a tourniquet because she wasn't sure an artery hadn't been hit. A passing beach walker carried her daughter up the steep white steps in front of the house and put her on the top of the hot tub.

"By then neighbors and strangers were all around," Brandi Schmidt said. St. Johns County Fire Rescue arrived and treated the girl taking her first to Flagler Hospital.

She's still amazed how calmly her daughter reacted despite being in obvious pain.

"There was a hole as big as my hand spread apart," she said, illustrating the size with her hand. A series of abrasions on the lower part of the leg may have been made when the rough skin of the shark passed by.

At Flagler Hospital, one nurse asked if the wound might have been made by the fin of the surfboard. After she saw it, she said it definitely looked like a shark bite.

Kasey Schmidt was transferred to Wolfson Children's Hospital in Jacksonville later Sunday evening and surgeons operated, cutting away the dead flesh and sewing up the wound.

She was allowed to come home Tuesday and her parents are hopeful the flesh around the wound will stay health. Some cosmetic surgery may be needed, but there was no muscle damage.

Kasey's father, Kevin Schmidt, was out of town on business when the accident happened. His wife telephoned him at his hotel in Argentina shortly after he arrived; Kasey was the one who told her father what had happened.

Brandi Schmidt said they have always tried to make their daughter aware of the possible dangers of the ocean. She tells of a pilot friend who has been up in the air when the beaches are full and the water is clear. He has often seen sharks swimming in the waters just a few feet beyond the humans.

"We know they're there. She knows they're there. We've always told her to get the heck out of the water if she sees a shark. That's what she did," Schmidt said.

The irony for Brandi Schmidt is that it was her daughter who was bitten. Schmidt is a professional surfer who has pursued the sport all over the world. She's been out on the water in the early morning and late evening, when bait fish are swimming and when the ocean has a fishy smell -- all times when sharks are more likely to gather. She's never been bitten. 

For now, Kasey Schmidt is using crutches to get around. She's planning to return to swimming -- in chlorine pools. She says she's not ready to go back into the ocean.

zurück