Shark Attack Death: Tim Van Heerden Killed By Shark In South Africa (VIDEO)

The death of a surfer in South Africa is the latest in a world-wide spate of shark attacks in areas previously thought to be relatively safe.

Tim Van Heerden was killed on Monday in South Africa's Plettenberg Bay. His death was the first-ever reported fatality from a shark attack on that beach.

Van Heerden's death follows the deaths of two tourists in the Seychelles in recent weeks. The deaths there were the first reported shark attacks in the islands since 1963.

Swimmers off Russia's east coast have also fallen victim to shark attacks this month, with two attacks in a region where bears are the more traditional animal threat.

Comments

[Igor Purlantov]

08:25 PM on 08/25/2011

It is always sad to hear about fatal shark attacks. Shark attacks are still very rare and people should always assume the risk.

[motoGpifupleez]

06:38 PM on 08/25/2011

See what happens when they get used to the TV exposure? They're like the Sarah Palin: They just keep showing up all over the place.

[Max Shaw]

02:52 PM on 08/25/2011

Waiting for Shark Night 3D anyone? I feel like real-life attacks are far more 3D then a movie could ever be...Theyre fascinating creatures, but I dont want to be anywhere near them unless Im in a cage.

[Blackorpheus]

12:16 PM on 08/25/2011

The sharks are enraged. So are the elephants and dolphins.

[Neil Reilly]

09:07 AM on 08/25/2011

I have never seen a shark walking down the street where we live, if we did we would kill them. Stay away from where they live. You will be there lunch. Some of the people I have seen in the water, they will be there breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Stay away.

[Java321]

05:04 PM on 08/25/2011

I completely agree with your point. But it's "their" not "there" :p

[Neil Reilly]

03:17 PM on 08/27/2011

Thank you for your comment. I have said many times that I am not too smart. I just try to give my opinion. However, thank you for your correction.

[motoGpifupleez]

06:37 PM on 08/25/2011

You better not. Any shark able to walk down the street has far more right to live than you or anyone in your town does.

[mosuro]

06:59 AM on 08/25/2011

swimming/surfing in the shark's breakfast bowl comes with risks. as more people move and live near the waters more attacks will happen. don't blame the sharks, these creatures are trying to survive just like us.

[ringerang8]

06:24 AM on 08/25/2011

Years ago i'd been body surfing with two of my friends at a remote section of Joans Beach, West end 2. .There's no life guards at this section,.My friend's got out, but i stayed in for a few more rides. The Gulf Stream had come past, so the water was pretty clear.I was wearing bodysurfing fins ( smaller then regular dive fin's ) and was out a little further.On my last ride in, i stood up ,the water was about up to my lower chest.as i did i saw this shadow , about 12- 15 feet long,pass from behind me from the right side , go in front of me and past my left side ( like a U ) and go back out towards the waves.The water was a little foamy because of the waves. As this happened, i looked up in the sky to see if it was the shadow of the clouds or something, but there were no clouds,the sky was crystal clear. It was kinda erie so i got out.Later that evening i was talking to some friends who were at the same beach ,but a different location.They told me that everyone was called out of the water because of sharks !!!! Now tell me that wasn't a close call. It must have followed me in thinking i was a seal or something but stoped when i stood up (?) Who knows, but i never forgot that.

[ringerang8]

06:57 AM on 08/25/2011

CORRECTION....Maybe not 12 -15 feet long, but it was large. Big enough.

[ringerang8]

06:59 AM on 08/25/2011

Double correction....Jones Beach...Long Island New York... But the story is still true.

[wakohnen]

05:46 AM on 08/25/2011

Sharkies gettin Hungry.....surfs up tomorrow on the east coast....12 foot waves expected.

[automan 57]

04:28 AM on 08/25/2011

Swim with the big fishy and you might just become their big dish buffet !!!~~~~ Sad but, they are only doning what comes natural for ever living thing plant , mammal , bird, insects all heve to eat to survive and don.t always have the luxary to eat what they want !!! Just what is avaiaible !!!~~~~ Can,t help but wonder how many sharks develop a taste for humans after tradegys like the summani in Japan washed hundreds of bodies out to see.

[ringerang8]

05:41 AM on 08/25/2011

I guess you could call that reverse sushi. Kinda like, karma.

[StevenRussell1]

03:47 AM on 08/25/2011

I find this report Par for the Course for life in this world, as I wouldn't expect the Headline to read; "Surfer Kills Great White Shark With Board".

[practiceempathy]

02:26 AM on 08/25/2011

I grew up mid-Cape, Massachusetts, blocks from the Atlantic. I won't go swimming in the ocean....all because in 1975, at age seven, I managed to convince my parents I was "big enough" to go see JAWS with them; it was my first grown-up movie.

I didn't sit on the toilet for two weeks for fear of...the water.

I've been fascinated with sharks ever since (in October I'll be cage diving with great whites in Cali), and it's hard to imagine a more terrifying way to die than being attacked by a great white.

So, nope. Grew up on the ocean, and won't go swimming in the water.

As far as I'm concerned, when you go in the ocean you become an ingredient in something's soup.

[shmidly]

01:15 AM on 08/25/2011

Gee, not enough wars to even off the population, that now you can't go swimming (sharks) can't go hiking (Yosemite) can't go to the Falls (Niagra). NOW, we've got earthquakes coast to coast!

[hotazu]

03:15 AM on 08/25/2011

It's probably because we Americans have become TOO FAT ! Just as tenstar1 posted earlier on this. Perhaps the sharks will 'mistake' humans for whales in the future, instead of the slimmer seals.

[Bea Andrews]

01:02 AM on 08/25/2011

Sad.

[speedynutrino43]

01:01 AM on 08/25/2011

I grew up in close proximity to some of the prettiest beaches in the world but I stopped going in the Gulf or in the ocean after I saw JAWS. Irrational? Maybe, maybe not. The aggressive bull or Zambezi shark thrives in those waters and I've flown a small airplane over those very beaches and could see plenty of sharks off the beach about 250 yards. People get in trouble when they get on a raft and drift out into the deeper water. "Deeper water" is over your head. Maybe shark fin soup should be on more menus.

[Chad Wheeler]

05:10 PM on 08/25/2011

In 2000, the year with the most recorded shark attacks, there were 79 shark attacks reported worldwide, 11 of them fatal.

The estimates for how many sharks are killed each year for their fins ranges from 38-100 million.

I do not think shark fin soup should be on more menus.

[Tulka2]

12:39 AM on 08/25/2011

....or does it signal an ocean die-off?  Is the shark population was collapsing from lack of prey?   If there's been a big seal die-off the sharks might behave like this in certain places too.