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03/05/2013 - Fundile Nogumla - South Africa

Recent Shark Attacks in 2013 and 2013 Shark Attacks and Related Incidents
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alb
Posts: 1569
Joined: Fri Jun 18, 2010 7:41 pm

Re: 03/05/2013 - Fundile Nogumla - South Africa

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Shark victim survives
MIRACLE SURVIVOR: Fundile Nodumla is admitted at Nelson Mandela Academic Hospital in Mthatha after fighting off a shark with bare hands in the shallow water of Port St Johns Second Beach on Sunday. INSET: Nodumla after the attack. Picture: LULAMILE FENI
MIRACLE SURVIVOR: Fundile Nodumla is admitted at Nelson Mandela Academic Hospital in Mthatha after fighting off a shark with bare hands in the shallow water of Port St Johns Second Beach on Sunday. INSET: Nodumla after the attack. Picture: LULAMILE FENI
03-10-2013.jpg (26.68 KiB) Viewed 18249 times
There were no lifeguards – or anyone else – to come to his rescue.

Fundile Nodumla, 39, fought off the shark with his bare hands in shallow water.

He was admitted at the Nelson Mandela Academic Hospital in Mthatha on Sunday evening.

Lifeguards who spoke to the Daily Dispatch drew a frightening picture of safety at Second Beach and spoke of how helpless lifeguards were as they did not have adequate equipment to ensure bathers’ safety.

They only work for two months a year. They confirmed there had been no lifeguards at the time of the attack, saying they last worked on January 15 and would only work again in mid-March.
They said the municipality had told them there was no money to pay them.

“We work in December, 15 days in January and then another 15 days between March and April.

“E ven if someone is attacked we can’t scare the shark off because we don’t have adequate equipment, even though this beach is regarded as one of the world’s deadliest,” said lifeguard Ndaba Mafutha.

“Even had we been on duty, we could not have saved him without adequate equipment .”

He said in-season there were normally eight guards at Second Beach.

Another lifeguard, Sizwe Busubana, agreed things were desperate .

“We have told the powers-that-be that the sea is not seasonal. We used to work six months a year, but it was cut down to two ,” he said.

Busubana was one of the people who rushed the injured Nodumla to hospital. “In fact the man saved himself . He fought as much as he could and left the water bleeding profusely,” said Busubana .

Health spokesman Sizwe Kupelo said Nodumla had injuries on both arms and his chest and abdomen.

Port St Johns mayor Mnyamezeli Mangqo said he was concerned about the shark attacks, and the municipality was in discussion with the KwaZulu-Natal Shark Board and environmental affairs department.

“This is no longer a Port St Johns issue but a national matter.

“We want shark nets and shark spotters,” he said .

On the issue of lifeguards, the mayor said the council had resolved to have lifeguards working for six months from December to June.

“Because of finances the municipality can only pay for 30 days a year, but we hope that negotiations with the government will see our beaches guarded for six months. I hope the recent incident will speed up the negotiations.”

Christmas Day festivities turned to terror at Second Beach about two months ago when 20-year-old Liya Sibili, of Gauteng, was attacked and killed by a shark at Second Beach.
There have been seven fatal attacks in as many years. —

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alb
Posts: 1569
Joined: Fri Jun 18, 2010 7:41 pm

03/05/2013 - Fundile Nogumla - South Africa

Post by alb »

Death stared him in the eye

A MTHATHA businessman who survived a shark attack at a Port St Johns beach this week told how he wrestled with it while terrified bathers fled the water around him.
MIRACLE SURVIVOR: Fundile Nodumla is admitted at Nelson Mandela Academic Hospital in Mthatha after fighting off a shark with bare hands in the shallow water of Port St Johns Second Beach on Sunday. INSET: Nodumla after the attack. Picture: LULAMILE FENI
MIRACLE SURVIVOR: Fundile Nodumla is admitted at Nelson Mandela Academic Hospital in Mthatha after fighting off a shark with bare hands in the shallow water of Port St Johns Second Beach on Sunday. INSET: Nodumla after the attack. Picture: LULAMILE FENI
03-10-2013-1.jpg (20.23 KiB) Viewed 18250 times


SURVIVOR: Fundile Nogumla demonstrates the boxing stance he used to beat a shark on the head as it tore pieces out of him at Second Beach in Port St Johns on Sunday Picture: LULAMILE FENI

Fundile Nogumla, 39, of Zimphunzana in Mthatha said he “boxed” with the shark, raining blows down on its hard-as-a-brick head while it was tearing off pieces of flesh from his arms. He was attacked on Sunday while swimming at Second Beach, which is the country’s deadliest beach for shark attacks.

Nogumla, the eighth person to be attacked there since 2007 and the only survivor, believes that despite his gallant fight it was only through God’s will that he lived to tell the tale. “I boxed a shark and we drew,” he said. “I fought a good fight. As I beat it with fists, it bit off some flesh on my arms, it was like a toe-to- toe fight. A small voice inside me kept on telling me that I won’t die, but must fight strongly.”

Nogumla said while fighting off the shark he screamed for help but no one came to his aid.

“The only help came from God himself who gave me the strength to fight the shark. I came face-to-face with death but God saved me.”

As Nogumla told his story from his Bedford Orthopaedic Hospital bed, he made jokes about the encounter, showing nurses the boxing stances he used to fight off the shark.
But, when asked how he survived, he became serious.

“I just thought, oh God, my children are still young,” he said.

Nogumla and his family had driven from Mthatha to Port St Johns to spend Sunday afternoon on the beach. He said the whole family had swum.

“ My wife and children swam for about 30 minutes while I was looking after our youngest child sitting on the sand,” he recounted.

Although he had initially planned not to swim, when his family came out of the water he joined a group of about 30 bathers.

“I was in the middle of them – not in front, not in the back. The water was waist high.

“After just five minutes in the water there was suddenly this thrashing beside me. I jumped up and as I came down I saw death – a shark with its mouth wide open.”
He said he punched, kicked, prayed and screamed.

“It attacked me three or four times before I managed to run out of the water, bleeding and shaking with fear and praying that I would not die.”

Nogumla urged authorities at Port St Johns Municipality to ensure that such attacks are prevented. “How many have to die before something is done,” he said.



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