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American Morning

When Sharks Attack: Couple Attacked off Coast of Cape Hatteras

Aired September 04, 2001 - 11:01   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: For the second time in two days an encounter with a shark turns deadly along the Mid Atlantic coast. The latest victim: a Virginia man, who died after he and his companion were attacked off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. The woman suffered serious injuries.

And CNN's Patty Davis joins us from Avon, North Carolina, where that attack took place. And Patty has more for us right now -- Patty.

PATTY DAVIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Leon, that attack happened about a quarter mile down here from where I am right now here in Avon, North Carolina. Let's give you a picture of -- you can see what's going on down there right now. We have some sunbathers out. But I can tell you from watching this morning, there's nobody in water this morning; a lot of sunbathers, a lot of fisherman, but that's about it.

Now, the National Park Service says that nobody saw any sharks or anything in the surf around the time of this attack.

As you said, a 28-year-old man and his 23-year-old companion were swimming. They are Russian national from the Washington D.C. area, were here on vacation. They were about 20 to 40 feet out in the water, about four feet high, that water was about chest high when they were attacked.

Now, rescuers say the man was in cardiac arrest. When they arrived he was getting CPR. His leg had been bitten off below the knee. Also, he had lost some fingers.

Now, the woman was taken to a hospital, there was a waiting ambulance here, a four-wheel drive moved her over to an ambulance. She was then transported to a helicopter to go to a trauma unit in Norfolk, Virginia.

Now, her left foot had to be amputated, according to National Park Service. The back of one of her thighs was simply gone. Bites, rescuers say, averaged about 10 inches in diameter.

Now, here, one of the rescuers say that it was a very difficult scene. He arrived over the sand dunes and in fact felt helpless. He just had a small rescue kit. He said it just simply not enough.

Now, a Coast Guard helicopter did do a fly-over this morning. We were standing here, it came flying over our head. And it was looking for anything unusual, and signs of sharks, anything unusual in the water.

Now, we should know the results of that Coast Guard search about 11:45 a.m. Eastern time this morning. The National press -- the National Park Service plans to hold another press briefing to update us on exactly if they have seen anything in the water. Also, on top of that, the autopsy results from that man. They're saying at this point that it is a probable shark attack, but they want to know what the autopsy shows so they can best determine that -- Leon.

HARRIS: All right, thanks, Patty.

And we should also advice folks that we're learning that there is also going to be a press conference at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital on the survivor of that shark attack. And we'll have that for you live right here once it gets underway.

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