EL Shark Attack
Friday 22 July 2011 East London, South Africa: The NSRI in Cape Town and East London has confirmed that a shark bite on a surfer in East London this morning was not fatal, writes Paul van Jaarsveld.
UPDATE - August 2011: Denver and his mates are throwing a fund raiser event to start up a shark victim fund. Read more about it here.
UPDATE: Denver Struwig is in hospital and doing fine according to the night sister of his ward. Leave a get well comment for him at the end of article!
The attack occurred at Cinsta Beach with the victim, a 27 year old surfer called Denver Struwig, that was out surfing with his mates. He was bumped from his board, and sustained several lacerations to his right lower leg and left upper arm during the attack.
According to Craig Lambinon from NSRI, the surfer´s friends used his surfboard as floatation device and stretcher in the rescue effort and it was no doubt that their fast reaction and organization made a big difference in the situation. A private ambulance service responded to the call, and he is believed to be in a stable condition and was reported to be fully conscious and that the lacerations was not life threatening at the time.
It was also stated by Lambinon that the species of shark has not been identified.
The emergency was handled by Life St. Dominique's hospital, and the victim has been referred to Life Beacon Bay for plastic surgery. He requested not to interface with media at the time, which is fully understandable
From everybody at Wavescape.co.za and no doubt the international surfing community, we wish Denver a safe recovery
If you have any further details, please contact Paul van Jaarsveld - 083 521 5093