Henri Murray
Posted on 6/6/2005, 4:43:47 PM by NYer
Henri Murray
A young medical student is dead following a Great White shark attack reminiscent of "Jaws," the blockbuster Steven Spielberg film which premiered 30 years ago this month.
Henri Murray, 22, was swallowed nearly whole yesterday while scuba diving and spear-fishing with a friend near Cape Town, South Africa.
"It was incredibly fast," Dave Estment, a yachtsman who witnessed the onslaught, told the Scotsman. "The two spear fishermen were not far from the beach. Suddenly a huge shark surged from under the water taking the one diver [from his legs upwards] to his arms in its jaws."
"It must have been massive to have done that. Then the shark and the man just vanished," he continued.
Other witnesses estimate the Great White's length at 20 feet, with the attack taking place in about 20 feet of water.
According to News24 in South Africa, Murray first noticed the shark and warned his friend, Piet van Niekerk, that they should get out of the water.
Murray was able to scare off the creature twice, before the animal returned for a third time, locking its jaws around the victim.
Van Niekerk tried unsuccessfully to shoot the shark with his speargun.
Divers today recovered a weightbelt -- appearing as if it had been sliced through with a knife -- a mask, a speargun and rubber flipper.
At Murray's parents home in Durbanville, South Africa, the family was relying on its faith.
"People often go overboard after a shark attack, but there are far more dangerous sports than water sports," Henri's father George told News24. "It's safer to dive than to drive a car. I was always a lot more worried when Henri went rock climbing."
"Jaws" hit the silver screen in June 1975, and cast and crewmembers celebrated the 30th anniversary this weekend in Martha's Vineyard, Mass., where the saga was filmed.
"It's a bizarre experience to have it even remembered 30 years later," author Peter Benchley told the Associated Press. "When I wrote this book, I didn't think it could possibly succeed."
Costing only $7 million to make, "Jaws" was the first film to earn at least $100 million at the box office, and has taken in $470 million worldwide since its debut.
WE were on vacation in Florida the week Jaws opened, and for the first few days you could walk the entire beach and not see ONE person in the water..Mass hysteria..
You'd only have to exterminate three or four species of sharks and there'd never be another shark attack on a human. "Scientists" would still have 297 species of the stinking things to study.
Stories like these do not help with my fear of the ocean. Prayers for his family...
We're gonna need a bigger boat...
Poor young man. It would have payed off dearly to avoid the shark's playground. NSNR
25!
GREAT WHITE WHALE
This is no boating accident
My wife and I saw "Jaws" the first day of my vacation the year it came out, and immediately cancelled a trip to the Jersey shore.
Ain't never heard of anyone get'n swallowed whole on the highway.
A whale couldn't swallw that, and if he could, would result in a high BAC.
I thought the same thing. Dear God...I would be out of my mind with grief and would NEVER be speaking to the media.
The whole article is just bizarre. What the hell is the box office totals for Jaws doing in there? It's like a stream of conciousness effort.
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