Los Angeles:
Matthew Garcia was surfing two feet away from his friend who was bodyboarding when he heard a desperate cry for help. Within seconds, a shark flashed out of the water, bit into his friend's leg and pulled him under in a cloud of blood.
"When the shark hit him, he just said, 'Help me, dude!' He knew what was going on," Mr. Garcia told The Associated Press as he recounted his friend's death. "It was really fast. You just saw a red wave and this water is blue -- as blue as it could ever be -- and it was just red, the whole wave."
As huge waves broke over his head, Mr. Garcia tried to find his friend, Lucas Ransom, in the surf but could not. He decided to get help, but turned around again as he was swimming to shore and saw Mr. Ransom's red bodyboard pop up. Mr. Garcia swam to his friend and did chest compressions as he brought him to shore.
"He was just floating in the water," he said. "I flipped him over on his back and underhooked his arms. I was pressing on his chest and doing rescue breathing in the water. He was just kind of lifeless, just dead weight."
Mr. Ransom, 19, a junior at the University of California, Santa Barbara, had a severe wound to his left leg and died a short time later at Surf Beach, the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department said in a statement. The beach, 130 miles northwest of Los Angeles, is on the property of Vandenberg Air Force Base but is open to the public.
There have been nearly 100 shark attacks in California since the 1920s, including a dozen that were fatal, according to the California Department of Fish and Game. But attacks have remained relatively rare even as the population of swimmers, divers and surfers sharing the waters has soared.
The last shark attack on Surf Beach was in 2008, when what was believed to be a great white shark bit a surfer's board. The surfer was not harmed. The last fatal attack in California was that same year, when David Martin, 66, a triathlete, bled to death after a great white shark bit his legs off a San Diego County beach.
Federal and state fish and game officials were working to identify the type of shark that attacked Mr. Ransom, who was from Romoland, Calif., in Riverside County.
The ocean was calm and beautiful before the attack, with large wave sets that the friends had been tracking all week as they moved down the West Coast from Alaska, Mr. Garcia, 20, said.
The shark, which breached the water on its side, appeared about 18 feet long, Mr. Garcia said.
"There was no sign, there was nothing," he said. "It was all very fast, very stealth."
Mr. Garcia and Mr. Ransom, best friends since they were on the water polo and swim teams together at Perris High School in Riverside County, had joked the night before about the chances they would be attacked by a shark, Mr. Garcia said. It was the first time either had been to that particular beach and they planned to surf until about 11 a.m. and then go to class, he said.
"We were just in perfect water, the waves were perfect, great barrels," he said. "It was picture-perfect conditions. You hear a surfer say, 'Oh, perfect waves' -- well, the waves do not get any better than they were today."
"When the shark hit him, he just said, 'Help me, dude!' He knew what was going on," Mr. Garcia told The Associated Press as he recounted his friend's death. "It was really fast. You just saw a red wave and this water is blue -- as blue as it could ever be -- and it was just red, the whole wave."
As huge waves broke over his head, Mr. Garcia tried to find his friend, Lucas Ransom, in the surf but could not. He decided to get help, but turned around again as he was swimming to shore and saw Mr. Ransom's red bodyboard pop up. Mr. Garcia swam to his friend and did chest compressions as he brought him to shore.
"He was just floating in the water," he said. "I flipped him over on his back and underhooked his arms. I was pressing on his chest and doing rescue breathing in the water. He was just kind of lifeless, just dead weight."
Mr. Ransom, 19, a junior at the University of California, Santa Barbara, had a severe wound to his left leg and died a short time later at Surf Beach, the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department said in a statement. The beach, 130 miles northwest of Los Angeles, is on the property of Vandenberg Air Force Base but is open to the public.
There have been nearly 100 shark attacks in California since the 1920s, including a dozen that were fatal, according to the California Department of Fish and Game. But attacks have remained relatively rare even as the population of swimmers, divers and surfers sharing the waters has soared.
The last shark attack on Surf Beach was in 2008, when what was believed to be a great white shark bit a surfer's board. The surfer was not harmed. The last fatal attack in California was that same year, when David Martin, 66, a triathlete, bled to death after a great white shark bit his legs off a San Diego County beach.
Federal and state fish and game officials were working to identify the type of shark that attacked Mr. Ransom, who was from Romoland, Calif., in Riverside County.
The ocean was calm and beautiful before the attack, with large wave sets that the friends had been tracking all week as they moved down the West Coast from Alaska, Mr. Garcia, 20, said.
The shark, which breached the water on its side, appeared about 18 feet long, Mr. Garcia said.
"There was no sign, there was nothing," he said. "It was all very fast, very stealth."
Mr. Garcia and Mr. Ransom, best friends since they were on the water polo and swim teams together at Perris High School in Riverside County, had joked the night before about the chances they would be attacked by a shark, Mr. Garcia said. It was the first time either had been to that particular beach and they planned to surf until about 11 a.m. and then go to class, he said.
"We were just in perfect water, the waves were perfect, great barrels," he said. "It was picture-perfect conditions. You hear a surfer say, 'Oh, perfect waves' -- well, the waves do not get any better than they were today."
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