Shark attacks (WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGES) (2024)

Paige Winter, 17, lost a leg to a shark attack in June 2019. She was attacked off the North Carolina coast, and according to a family Facebook post, Winter's father, Charlie, "punched the shark in the face five times before it let go."

Friends of the family launched a GoFundMe campaign to help the teen.

Pro surfer punches shark

Australian surfer Mick Fanning was attacked by a shark while competing in the J-Bay Open in Jeffreys Bay, South Africa on July 19, 2015. The contest was streaming online when the shark swam up alongside the three-time world champion and tossed him from his board.

Fanning managed to land a punch squarely on the shark's back, and he escaped without a scratch.

Rare attack

Jordan Lindsey, 21, of Torrance, Calif., was killed in an unusual, three-shark attack in the Bahamas on June 26, 2019.

A biologist says there was likely a trigger that caused the sharks to attack the college student while she was snorkeling and scientists say it is not normal shark behavior.

"His entire left leg from the knee down was just missing"

Thomas Smiley, 65, a retired optometrist from Northern California, died after a shark attack off the Maui coast in May 2019.

Witness Allison Keller saidSmiley appeared unconscious as rescuers brought him to shore: "It looked like the skin on his wrist was just torn off ... And his entire left leg from his knee down was just missing."

Shark attack deja vu

Australian diver Greg Pickering has the unlucky distinction of being mauled by a shark two times in nine years.

First he was bitten on the leg while spearfishing near Cervantes, Australia in 2004. Then, in October 2013, during another spearfishing trip, he was attacked by a suspected great white, sustaining injuries to his head and face. He was airlifted to a hospital in Perth for treatment.

Competitive swimmer attacked

In July 2014, competitive ocean swimmer Steven Robles was bitten by a great white shark while training near California's Manhattan Beach.

"I stared at the shark face to face, looking into his eyeballs as he bit right into me," Robles told CBS News. "It happened fast. I used my right hand to grab its nose and just tried to yank it off of me."

The shark in question had been hooked by a nearby fisherman for 45 minutes prior to the attack.

"I punched it in the gills"

Bill Lytton, of Scarsdale, N.Y., is assisted by a physical therapist in Boston, on Aug. 28, 2018, while recovering from a shark attack. Lytton underwent six surgeries and had nearly 12 pints of blood pumped into him after the attack.

"I punched [the shark] in the gills" to escape, he said.

Possible culprit?

Experts weren't immediately sure what kind of shark bit Lytton. However, a CBS Boston helicopter spotted what appeared to be a great white shark in the water near where Lytton was bitten.

South African shark attack

In 2006, Achmat Hassiem was attacked by a great white shark during a lifeguard exercise off the coast of Cape Town, South Africa.

Hassiem lost his right leg that day but found a new passion during recovery: swimming. In 2012, he won a bronze medal in the Men's 100m Butterfly at the Paralympics in London.

Woman survives great white in California

Leeanne Ericson was surfing at San Onofre Beach in California when a 10-foot great white bit her right leg and dragged her underwater. She fought back by digging her fingers into the shark's eye, and it eventually let her go.

After the 2017 attack, Ericson was put in a medically induced coma and spent nine weeks in intensive care.

Teeth of the tiger

On September 20, 2015, 27-year-old Braxton Rocha was attacked by a 13-foot tiger shark while spearfishing off Hawaii's Big Island. He then posted agraphic video to Instagram showing the shark-inflicted damage to his left leg (a large gash, several inches deep).

Here, researchers at the University of Tampa, Florida examine the head of a tiger shark to determine the animal's "bite force." If Rocha's leg is any indication, it's sizable.

Surfer attacked in Australia

In March 2011, Dave Pearson was mauled by a bull shark in the waters of Crowdy Head in New South Wales, Australia. The attack left Pearson with partial mobility in his left arm.

In this photo, Pearson shows the tattoo he got to commemorate surviving.

Shark attack in South Carolina

A 43-year-old man was attacked by a shark near Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, on June 26, 2015. He was taken to a nearby hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Hawaiian surfer escapes shark attack

Jeff Horton, 25, fought off a tiger shark when the animal narrowly missed his leg and took a bite out of his surfboard off the coast of Kauai, Hawaii.

"The only thing is either fight or flight," he told CBS Newsin October 2013. "Like I didn't want to die. So, I just gave everything I had and started punching the shark as much as I could."

Horton eventually managed to jam a knuckle into the shark's eye and was able to retreat to safety.

Shark patrol officer fatally attacked

A shark patrol officer was killed by a shark while monitoring the waters in in Saint-Leu, on the French indian ocean island of La Reunion in April 2017.

Emergency personnel, who responded quickly to the scene, said the man was bitten on his leg and groin area and died within a half hour of the attack.

Man bitten in waist-deep water

Andrew Costello, 68, was attacked by a shark in waist-deep water off Ocraco*ke Island, North Carolina, in July 2015. He was swimming directly in front of the lifeguard stand, about 30 feet offshore.

Costello suffered wounds to his ribcage, lower leg, hip and both hands, but survived.

Surfer killed by a great white shark

Surfer Francisco Javier Solorio Jr., 39, was fatally attacked by a shark in the waters off of Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, in October 2012.

Experts suspect Solorio was killed by a 15- to 16-foot great white shark. He was bitten in the upper torso, and died at the scene.

This is the surfboard Solorio was riding at the time of the attack.

Boy and girl attacked on separate Fire Island beaches

In July 2018, two children were bitten on the same stretch of Fire Island shoreline, about four miles apart.

A 13-year-old boy suffered bite marks on one leg, and had a shark tooth embedded into his skin, while a 12-year old girl was bitten on the leg on the same day. Both recovered.

Teenage boogie boarder loses arm

Kiersten Yow, 13, of Archdale, North Carolina, lost her left arm to a shark while boogie boarding off Oak Island, North Carolina, in June 2015.

Less than 90 minutes later, a teenage boy also was severely injured nearby.

They were both attacked in waist-deep water.

Teenage boy also loses left arm

Hunter Treschl, 16, of Colorado Springs, Colorado also lost his left arm that day.

Despite the similarities in their injuries, however, experts do not believe the teenagers were attacked by the same shark.

"The shark bit my arm off"

"We were just playing around in the waves, and I felt a hit on my left calf," Treschl told CBS News at the hospital where he was being treated.

"I thought it felt like a big fish, and I started moving away. And then the shark bit my arm off."

French surfer killed in shark attack

According to National Geographic, surfers account for approximately half of all unprovoked shark attacks.

This surfer was killed by a shark on the French island of Reunion in 2013, while his wife sunned on the beach nearby. Here, French gendarmes carry his body away from the scene of the attack.

French bodyboarder killed by shark

In April 2017, Adrien Dubosc, 30, was killed by a shark on the same island.

According to local officials, Dubosc was in the water with two friends when a shark bit his right thigh and groin area.

A surprise shark attack in Cape Cod

Christopher Myers was rushed to the hospital after being bitten by a shark on both legs while bodyboarding near Cape Cod in July 2012.

Scientists later confirmed that the shark, which attacked him off Truro, Massachusetts, was a great white, the first to be seen in that area since 1936.

Navy diver bitten in Australia

In February 2009, Australian Navy diver Paul de Gelder lost an arm and a leg to a male bull shark while training with the Royal Australian Navy in Sydney.

De Gelder now travels Australia as a motivational speaker; he told People Magazine in 2014 that he's working to combat the popular misconception that sharks are out to get people.

Teenager attacked in North Carolina

In the summer of 2015, 11 people were attacked by sharks off the coasts of the Carolinas over just a few weeks. One of those victims, a 17-year-old boy, received injuries to his right calf, buttocks and both hands while swimming in the Outer Banks that June.

The unidentified teenager was then airlifted to a hospital in Norfolk, Virginia for treatment.

Woman bitten while training

In May 2016, 52-year-old Maria Korcsmaros was attacked by a shark in Newport Beach, California, while she was training for a half-Iron Man competition. She was bitten on her shoulder and upper torso, her wounds ultimately stretching from shoulder to pelvis.

Teen kayaker attacked by great white

Sarah Williams, 15,survived a shark attack while kayaking in Adelaide, Australia, with her family. In October 2017, the 15-foot great white upended Williams' kayak, but her father and brother pulled her from the water before she could be seriously injured.

Williams escaped with some scratches and bruises.

Man who survived bear attack gets bitten by a shark

On April 22, 2018, Dylan McWilliams, a man who once survived a bear attack, was bittenin the leg by a shark off the shore of Kauai.

Here's a photo of the aftermath of the mauling. The wound required multiple stitches.

Shark attacks paddleboarder

A stand-up paddleboarder was hospitalized in April 2018 after a 12-foot-long tiger shark bit off part of his leg and injured his arm off of Kukio Beach in Hawaii.

North Carolina man mauled by shark

A North Carolina man was bitten on his back and his leg while playing in the surf off Avon, North Carolina, in June 2015.

Ocearch founder Chris Fischer told "CBS This Morning," "It's very common this time of year between Florida and the Carolinas to have these sorts of incidents."

Teenage boy killed in shark attack

In April 2015, a 13-year-old boy was killed by a shark on a beach western coast of the French Indian Ocean island of Reunion.

Here, several hundred people gather at the scene of the attack to pay their respects.

Scuba diver mauled by shark in Florida

What happens after a shark attack can be even more dangerous than the bite itself. Just ask Anthony Segrich, who was scuba diving off a Florida beach when he was mauled by a 12-foot bull shark.

"When I looked down, I just saw the head and it just kept biting and biting and biting,'' Segrich said. ''Blood turns green underwater so the whole thing exploded green. The first bite goes across the knee through the kneecap all the way around and then down across the ankle."

After the 2013 attack, Segrich's wounds became infected.

Boy bitten in South Carolina

In June 2015, a 12-year-old boy was bitten on the legs while swimming off the Isle of Palms, northeast of Charleston, South Carolina.

The boy was reportedly playing in the water with a cousin about 15 feet out, when the shark attacked. He needed eight stitches.

Diver killed by shark in Australia

In June 2016, a 60-year-old woman diving at a popular spot in Perth, Australia, was killed by a large shark. Nearby fishermen said the shark was larger than their 17-foot boat.

This file photo, taken in May 1999, shows a grey nurse shark among bathers at Oceanworld in Sydney.

Surfer attacked

In May 2016, Ben Gerring, 29, was surfing near Perth, Australia, when his leg was bitten off by a great white shark. He died of his injuries later that week. Local officials caught and killed a 15-foot shark soon after, but weren't sure if it was the same one that killed Gerring.

13-year-old boy bitten in Florida

In May 2016, a 13-year-old boysurvived a shark in Neptune Beach, Florida, after wading just two feet into the water. The boy was bitten on his calf and the back of his right knee. His injuries were not fatal.

Kayaker attacked near Malibu

A man in his 20s was attacked by a 10-foot hammerhead shark in September 2015 while dangling his legs over the side of a kayak near Malibu, California. The shark reportedly bit the kayaker's foot straight down to the bone. Luckily, he was able to flag down a nearby fishing boat and they were able to control the bleeding and arrange for him to be airlifted to a nearby hospital.

Surfer loses left arm in shark attack

Surfer Bethany Hamilton lost her left arm in a 2003 shark attack, but that didn't stop her from returning to the sport she loves.

Hamilton came in second place at the 2008 ASP World Junior Championships. And she wrote an autobiography: "Soul Surfer: A True Story of Faith, Family, and Fighting to Get Back on the Board," which was later turned into a movie.

Spear fisherman bitten in California

A spear fisherman was seriously injured in November 2017 while wading in the water at at Stillwater Cove in Pebble Beach, California. Officials said the man's leg was intact, but the bite was serious.

Surfer mauled

A surfer was mauled by a shark off southwestern Australia in April 2018. He suffered serious injuries to both his legs but survived.