ID :
379174
Thu, 09/03/2015 - 08:17
Auther :

French expert confirms wound on Aussie tourist caused by baby shark

PHUKET, September 3 (TNA) -- A shark expert from France met with Thailand's southern province of Phuket's governor, where he informed that the tourist Aussie wounded in the waters the day before was bitten by a Bull shark. At the same time, the governor has planned to coordinate with Royal Thai Navy in sending helicopters to survey the sea and warn tourists to be more careful while in the waters. Head of the Marine Endangered Species Unit (MESU) under the Phuket Marine Biological Centre, Dr Kongkiat Kittiwattanawong, together with French shark expert, Mr Davit Martin called on Phuket Governor Nisit Chansomwong yesterday afternoon, to inform him of the finding after both experts have inspected the photograph of the wounds taken on the bitten Australian female tourist on Tuesday (Sep 1) at Karon Beach. The French marine animal expert affirmed that he is 90 percent sure that the bite marks on the Aussie tourist were caused by a Bull shark, which could be as long as 3 metres when fully grown. However, he noted that the tourist was bitten by a baby Bull Shark, which might have been only about 1-1.5 metres long, adding that his shark specie could adapt itself to live in both the freshwater and sea and could be easily found near river's mouths, as well as in the ocean. Mr Davit further said there are roughly a total of 480 shark species on earth at present, and only 3-4 species have found to have harmed humans; Bull sharks being one of them. The shark expert then said that most sharks do not harm humans and do not hunt humans for food, the common reason for sharks to bite a human is when they thought that some parts of the human bodies were fishes, causing them to attack. He informed that after an inquiry of the incident revealed that before the shark attack the victim went to play surf with a male friend in the sea about 6 metres away from the beach, where the water there was about 1 metres deep. He ensured that Phuket has never had a shark attack and this is the first ever in the province. Mr Davit said although sharks are not humans' enemies, preventive measures should be implemented since an attack already took place, including warning tourists to be more vigilant while in the waters, as well as carry out helicopter surveillance to see if there are anymore sharks in the area to push them back out to the deep sea and find out while the marine animal has traveled to the area. The Phuket governor, on the other hand, said he coordinated with Karon Municipal Offce and Phuket Provincial Fisheries Office to warn visitors of playing in the waters, as well as asked for assistance from the 3rd Navy Region Command to send out helicopters to survey the area for more sharks in order to push them back out to the deep sea. Meanwhile, an official from the Phuket Tourism and Sports Office, Santi Pawai, visited the bitten Australian tourist, Miss Jane Neame, 37,at the Bangkok-Phuket Hospital, where he said she is recovering really well. The Austrian tourist also said that she would continue her trip here in Phuket after her recuperation and expressed her gratitude to Thai authorities for their assistance and care. (TNA)

X