Mexican fisherman loses hand in shark attack

Helmut Nickel, Shark Year Magazine,
03. June 2012

At about 9:00 a.m. in the morning of May 29, a fisherman lost almost his entire left forearm during a severe shark attack in the state of Guerrero, which is located on Mexico’s southern Pacific coast.

The victim, who was identified as Benigno Medina Navarrete (46), was diving (presumably free-diving) with his friend Juan Mendoza off the beach of Boca de la Leña in La Unión. The shark attack occurred shortly after the two fishermen succeeded to catch a fish just 15 metres from shore in a depth of ca. 5 metres.

Juan aided his injured companion to shore and took him to the Hospital General de Lázaro Cárdenas, where he arrived at about 1:00 p.m. and underwent a surgery that lasted for over three hours.

According to the source, an approximately 3-metres long bull shark (Carcharhinus leucas) was identified as the species involved in this incident.

Update: Please see the related news-video in our Video-Section ( here ).

Source and Photo Credit: ‘Progreso Hoy’ and ”La Verdad de Zihuatanejo’

1 Comment

  1. Angel

    God Bless Him,
    He is lucky to be alive.. Bull Sharks can be very aggressive, esspecially when there is food around. A speared fish is an easy food for the shark. That may be a part of the agression.
    Spearfishermen all around the globe are in danger especially in tropical waters.
    They spend a lot of time on the surface which is more dangerous than being under water. Especially after a catch, they come out to the surface to breath and leave the catch to shore or boat. Mostly that is when they got attacked with a bleeding mostly still alive fish moving in frenzy.
    I hope this fisherman can fight with the difficuties he will face from now on. God Help Him…

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