California Coast Shark Attack Leaves Surfer With Significant Injury

KEY POINTS

The bite left the victim with arterial damage on his leg
Other surfers in the area provided first aid and applied tourniquet to curb the bleeding
Victim's surfboard had a large arc of teeth marks, indicating shark's significant size

A surfer sustained serious injury stemming from a shark attack on the California coast over the weekend.

A man was catching waves along with several surfers on the surf off North Salmon Creek beach when a shark attacked him and bit his leg, shortly after 9 a.m., Sunday.

Other surfers helped the man out of the water and provided first aid, including a tourniquet. Emergency crews responded to the scene and had the victim airlifted to a local hospital via California Highway Patrol (CHP) helicopter with critical injuries.

Jared Davis, who was surfing with a friend, said a swell rose in the water between him and a man floating nearby. "When he was back into view, I saw the dorsal fin of the shark and then I saw the tail fin of the shark kind of going down into the water," Davis said to KPIX.

"It definitely wasn’t a quick attack. It was nice and slow," he added.

The victim, described to be in his 30s, was heard yelling "shark" and "help." As Davis reached the man, he saw blood on the victim’s wet suit.

The tourniquet applied by the other surfers 10 minutes after the initial bite helped control the man’s bleeding, said Bodega Bay Volunteer Fire Department firefighter Josh Perucchi.

"He was conscious and alert when he left the scene but obviously had a significant wound to his leg. He’s expected to survive," Perucchi said to Mercury News.

The shark bite left the man with arterial damage on his leg. According to KPIX, the victim’s surfboard had a wide arc of teeth marks, indicating the large size of the shark.

"I asked the patient, 'did you get a chance to see it?' And he did get a chance to see it and it was a pretty large shark that did bite him," paramedics Jonathon Bauer told the outlet. "He actually said he had a struggle with it, as well."

The park officials closed the beach area to the public for a length of two miles following the attack. According to Perucchi, great white shark sighting in the area is common at this time of the year but, attacks are rare.