scubasean:
Dang! You can't get to the article unless you register with the LATimes....
I think there are other articles cited here on SB on the subject.
Did the LA Times say anything new?
No. Calif. Diver Killed in Apparent Shark Attack
From Times Wire Services
4:18 PM PDT, August 16, 2004
UKIAH, Calif. A man diving off the California coast north of San Francisco was killed in what appears to be a rare shark attack, officials said Monday.
"It is consistent with some type of large bite," said Kurt Smallcomb, chief deputy coroner in Mendocino County.
Randall Fry, 50, disappeared Sunday afternoon while diving for abalone with a friend. Fry's friend told authorities that Fry disappeared after what he called a "big fish" appeared between them.
The friend made it back to the boat the two men were diving from, but Fry has not been seen since.
Smallcomb said the man was diving in water about 14 feet deep and 150 feet to 200 feet from shore near Westport, California Sunday.
Affiliated with several fishing clubs, Fry was an influential member of the Recreational Fishing Alliance. "Randy was really instrumental in organizing recreational anglers," said Sonke Mastrup, a deputy director for the Wildlife and Inland Fisheries Division of the California Department of Fish and Game.
A Coast Guard spokesman said a body was recovered late this morning near Kibesillah Rock near Westport in Mendocino County. The spokesman said the body was being transported to a Coast Guard station on Noyo River, and authorities would conduct an autopsy. The body has not yet been positively identified. No other information was released by the Coast Guard as to the condition of the body.
Since the early 1950s, there have been 106 shark attacks on humans off the West Coast, including 10 that resulted in fatalities, said Steve Martarano of the Department of Fish and Game.
The last fatal attack was a year ago. In August 2003, a great white shark 15 to 18 feet long attacked a 50-year-old college instructor Deborah Franzman of Nipomo, who bled to death after taking a morning swim at Avila Beach.
Associated Press and Reuters reports were used in this story.
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Copyright 2004 Los Angeles Times
