Posted by on February 26, 2008 at 13:42:32:
The attack happened 50 miles from the shores of Fort Lauderdale. A mayday call came in Sunday morning at 10am indicating a problem. Coast Guard officials immediately dispatched a crew to the scene rescuing 49 year old Markus Groh, a lawyer and avid diver from Austria. He was diving off the "Sheerwater" based out of New Port Cove marina in Riviera Beach and part of Jim Abernathy's Scuba Adventures. Groh was critical at the time of the rescue and flown to Jackson Memorial hospital in Miami where he pronounced dead a short time later. According to http://www.wetpixel.com/, an online website for divers, Groh was bitten by a bull shark on a remote coral reef baited for shark diving. The website says he was bitten in the leg during a dive in which a crate of dead fish was placed on the reef to attract sharks. It was a common practice and a popular dive for Abernathy's Scuba Adventures which for years has routinely taken charters for the experience. Abernathy from Scuba Adventures told us by phone, "At this time my heart and soul goes out to the loved ones and family members who are affected by this unfortunate accident."
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