Shark Bites Off Teen's Leg, Penis, Causing His Death

A Brazilian swimmer died after having his penis and part of his leg ripped off in a fatal shark attack Sunday.

Jose Ernestor da Silva, 18, was swimming in the deep waters off the Piedade beach near Recife, on Brazil’s northeast coast, with his brother and friends in the afternoon when he was attacked by a shark.

A horrifying video captured by one of the beachgoers shows the moment lifeguards pull the teenager out of the sea and lay him down on the sand. Bloodied garments were seen tied around his wounds in order to curb the flow, while people around the area repeatedly reminded a thoroughly stunned da Silva to keep breathing.

Emergency crews arrived at the scene and the victim was rushed to the local Aeronautica Hospital. He was later transported to the Recife’s Restauracao Hospital. However, despite the best efforts of the doctors, da Silva succumbed to the life-threatening wounds, The Sun reported.

Miguel Arcanjo, the director of Restauracao Hospital said: “He arrived unconscious, with an extremely extensive, very serious wound. After the surgery, which ended around 9.30 p.m. local time [8:30 p.m. EDT], he was admitted to the ICU. He lost a lot of blood, which was replaced, but he had a hypovolemic shock and did not resist.”

According to emergency officials, the victim suffered a heart attack while being taken to the first hospital and a second one on the way to Restaucacao.

“The shark bite amputated his femur and his penis. He lost a lot of blood and is in a critical condition,” ambulance medic Wagner Monteiro said.

As a result, the doctors had to amputate his penis as well as his femur.

The doctors believe it was a tiger shark which bit da Silva. The victim’s mother said she had no idea that her son was out swimming in an area marked by shark warnings and came to know of it when his brother called her to inform about da Silva’s attack.

“He would go in secret, because he knew that I thought it was dangerous. I wasn’t worried because I thought he was somewhere around the house. When I heard about it I went crazy, all the neighbors heard me screaming,” she said.

Rodrigo Matias, from Recife’s fire department, said the victim and his companions were drifting away from the shoreline and the lifeguards warned them to return to shallower waters which were safer.

“At the exact moment in which the lifeguards asked for them to come closer to the beach, he was bitten,” he said.

This is the second time in the last two months that a shark attacked a swimmer in Piedade beach. Thirty-five-year-old Pablo de Melo was attacked by a shark at the same beach on April 15, which resulted in the beachgoer getting a leg and a hand amputated. He was bitten by a shark when he was swimming in waist-deep waters.