Posted by on August 17, 2004 at 01:43:13:
In Reply to: body recovered posted by Northcoast_diver on August 16, 2004 at 14:44:00:
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A man diving off the California coast north of San Francisco was killed in what appears to be a rare shark attack, officials said on Monday.
"It is consistent with some type of large bite," said Kurt Smallcomb, chief deputy coroner in Mendocino County.
Smallcomb said the man was diving in water about 14 feet deep and 150 feet to 200 feet from shore near Westport, California on Sunday.
His dive partner had reported seeing a large fish, Coast Guard spokesman Matt Juillerat said. The man's body was recovered on Monday.
Fatal shark attacks are rare in California. A shark killed a swimmer in central California last year, but the last fatality before that was in 1994. If coroners confirm the latest death as shark-related, it would be the 11th on the U.S. West Coast since the 1950s.