A surfer lost his arm and leg in a shark attack on Saturday, August 27.
Laurent Chardard, 21, was surfing off Boucan Canot in Reunion Island. Around 5 p.m. a shark grabbed his right arm and he used his left to punch the shark. He climbed back on his board and the shark struck a second time and took part of his right leg.
He had been surfing with several others at a beach that featured an anti-shark net. However, on Saturday red flags had been posted to indicate it was unsafe to enter the water. The flags were raised in part due to a 6-foot (2m) hole that had been discovered in the net. In addition waves were breaking over the shark net.
“The Jet Ski was taken and the time I left, we fall into the wave …” Lifeguard Bertrand Babef, who maned a jet-ski during the rescue, told Linfo.re. “This is where I break leg and forehead. We tried to get back on the jet and a second wave toppled us. I can despite my injury to recover the Jet and recover my colleague … we are heading straight towards the victim and saw that he was missing a limb, it was a shark attack.”
Even with a broken ankle and injured head, Babef and another lifeguard were able to aid Mr. Sale. “The only words he managed to pronounce the water is: ‘Leave me’, ‘let me’ “Babef said. “…He felt die I think. But we, that life comes first. Our duty was to bring him back.”
Chardard was rescued by lifeguards and received first aid treatment on the beach before being transported to the University Hospital Bellepierre in Saint-Denis by helicopter. He is currently in a coma.
“I cannot blame him for going surfing, even if it puts my life in danger because I can understand,” Babef added “But when the MNS saying that the flame is red and the threads are not operational, do not go! Stop thinking that you did it to annoy you, the danger is real.”
The avid surfer lost both his right foot and right arm to a suspected bull shark.
A nearly 10-foot (2.9 m) bull shark weighing around 440 pounds (200 kg) was caught shortly after the incident.
This is the fifty-fith confirmed shark attack bites of 2016. Five of which were fatal. Twenty-three reported in the US, with fifteen occurring in Florida. Eleven have occurred in Australia, three of which were fatal.
All locations have been marked on the 2016 shark attack bites tracking map.
When a red flag warns you not to swim and you go anyway maybe your just too stupid to live.