Teen surfer loses arm in shark attack

THE water was clear and there was no indication of danger when a 13-year-old surfing star went out on the waves with her best friend and her friend’s father.

But while Bethany Hamilton was lying on her board off Kauai’s North Shore, a shark bit once and then disappeared, taking off her left arm just below the shoulder.

“Nobody saw it happen. She just yelled, ‘a shark bit me’,” said her father, Tom Hamilton. Bethany Hamilton, who remained in a stable condition after the attack Friday morning, talked of the attack Saturday.

“My arm was hanging in the water, and it just came and bit me,” Ms Hamilton said.

She said the shark pulled her back and forth, “but I just held on my board, and then it let go”.

Doctors at Wilcox Memorial Hospital said Ms Hamilton’s top condition as a competitive athlete helped her survive the attack.

“It was a very clean amputation,” Dr David Rovinsky said. Ms Hamilton’s background in competitive surfing helped her survive, he said.

“This is a woman who is a highly-trained athlete, and because of that she’s able to handle a huge blood loss,” Dr Rovinsky said.

Ms Hamilton was attacked in an area known as Tunnels, a quarter of a mile off Makua Beach, near Haena.

Ms Hamilton was surfing with best friend Alana Blanchard, also 13, and Alana’s father, Holt Blanchard.

Mr Blanchard immediately applied a tourniquet to Ms Hamilton’s arm using a surfboard leash, the family said.

After the attack, lifeguards went out on personal watercraft to warn people about the shark, said Cyndi Ozaki, spokeswoman for Kauai County.

County officials also closed the area between Ke’e and Wainiha beaches.

Neither the injury nor the beach closure deterred dozens of people from surfing over the weekend where the attack took place.

“To not surf would be like taking away your breath,” said Jill Schwed, 36.