just a small shark problem
Teens see sharks kill mate
December 17, 2004
AN afternoon of fun with four mates ended in horror yesterday when two Great White sharks killed a teenager in a ferocious attack off an Adelaide beach.
Attack ... A great white pointer shark
Nick Peterson, 18, was riding on a small surfboard being towed by a dinghy just 400m off West Beach when the attack occurred about 3.15pm (CDT).
Mr Peterson had been "scurfing" - a popular trend which involves towing a surfboard behind a boat - when a Great White at least 4m long surged at him. He tried to fend off the shark but disappeared within seconds.
A second Great White then joined the attack, striking at the boat as three of Mr Peterson's former Sacred Heart College schoolmates tried to strike it with paddles. They raced back to shore, alerting Anna and Frank Criscitelli - who were about to launch their boat - of the attack.
Mrs Criscitelli said they screamed: "Help - help us ... our mate's been taken by a shark. Don't go out, don't go out - sharks, sharks."
Mrs Criscitelli, 31, of Glenelg, said she could not believe what she was hearing and initially thought it was a joke.
"They were screaming at us that their mate had been taken by a shark," she said.
"They said it spun him around their boat, under the boat and a second shark ripped him to pieces.
"They said it was as big and as wide as their boat".
Witness Chris Niemoeller was swimming about 50m from the boys when he heard yelling.
"I could see these two huge fins come out of the water," he said. "It was just ferocious.
"One minute he was on the surfboard and he tried to beat it off and the next there was just a pool of blood.
"It was over in three seconds. He didn't stand a chance - he was just gone."
Thivo Kulasingam, 32, and his wife, Thanujah Haran, 30, of West Beach, were standing in front of the West Beach Surf Lifesaving Club when the attack occurred.
"We could see the shark just circling the boat around and around," Mr Kulasingam said.
"Then the shark started banging up against the boat - the noise was so loud we could hear it from the shore.
"There were three guys in the boat and two of them grabbed some paddles and started to bash the shark away but it kept attacking."
Experts did not rule out that the larger Great White was the same shark that has been stalking Adelaide's beaches in the past weeks. The hunt, by air and sea, began about 3.30pm (CDT), supported by police patrols along the beach alerting beachgoers of the attack.
However the beach was not closed to public, police instead leaving it to beachgoers to make their own judgment on swimming. Sea Rescue Squadron Rear Commodore Fraser Bell said an attack involving two sharks was "unprecedented" and may result in further attacks.
"I've never heard of two white pointers attacking human beings in this way," he said.
"He's (the shark) had a taste and he'll come back for more."
"It's just an absolute tragedy. They were just boys out there having a good time.
"The weather's just perfect and they were just doing what young lads do."
Chief Inspector David Lusty, of Sturt police, said a witness found the undamaged surfboard shortly before 4pm. About an hour later, searchers began finding human remains between Henley and Grange jetties.
"It was quite horrific but also quite quick," he said of the attack.
Mr Peterson and his three friends had been out on the water for about 30 minutes when the attack occurred.
It is believed he headed to the beach after finishing work for the day as a paver.
The death has rocked the close-knit Sacred Heart College community - where all four boys attended school.
Mr Peterson, originally from Ardrossan, was so popular he was voted house captain last year and was a role model to other Year 12s.
SHC principal Chris Blake described the incident as a "tragedy".
"He was just a great young person," he said. "It is incredible. It is hard to believe. We are terribly, terribly sad."
SHC boarding director Richard Maddigan said Mr Peterson was a keen surfer who loved the water.
He is the second man to be killed by a shark in Australian waters within a week.
Mark Thompson, 38, was killed on Saturday by a shark while spear fishing at Opal Reef off Cairns in north Queensland.
The last fatal shark attack off an Adelaide beach was in 1991, when 19-year-old Adelaide university student Jonathon Lee was killed by a white pointer, while diving off Aldinga Beach, in the southern suburbs.
The search for the remains of the teenager will resume this morning.
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