Shark Drags Surfer Under at California Beach

A surfer was hospitalized after a shark pulled him underwater in California. Witnesses at Montaña de Oro State Park say the victim was one Kevin Swanson, 50; the attacker, according to a park ranger, was an 8- to 10-foot juvenile shark, the San Luis Obispo Tribune reports. "It was really radical," says a fellow surfer. "I was about 10 feet from him, and it was absolutely quiet." The shark, witness Andrew Walsh continues, "came straight up out of the depths and got him and took him under the water. That was the amazing part: this big giant side of the shark just curving up out of the water."

After a few seconds, Swanson reappeared, shouting "shark attack!" and hurrying toward the shore, Walsh says. Swanson had been bitten on the hip and leg. Fortunately, two doctors were walking on the beach, Walsh says, and they were able to help the surfer, who made a tourniquet with his surfboard's leash. A friend of Swanson's who witnessed the incident identified the shark as a great white, surfline.com reports, adding that surfers in the area have run into sharks several times in the past. (Another surfer's life may have been saved recently thanks to a shark-punching friend.)