SHARK ATTACKS BATHERS

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 561, 14 January 1929, Page 1

SHARK ATTACKS BATHERS

Marauder in Tidal Creek TWO WOMEN SEVERELY BITT

(From Our Own Correspondent) PUKEKOHE, To-day. TO be attacked by a shark was the experience of two women bathers at Miranda. Both stiffered severe bites, but managed to get ashore safely.

i \ X Friday evening Mrs. J. C. Foote, • wife of a farmer residing at Pipiroa, and a female companion, who are camped at Miranda, were bathing in the tidal creek adjacent to Miranda Wharf toward dusk. Their families and friends were looking on from the bank. Suddenly a cry rent the air, and Mrs. Foote’s companion screamed that something had bitten her on the thigh. It was at first thought that the bather was playing a joke, hut, as she appeared greatly distressed, and was making for the bank, Mrs. Foote proceeded toward her. Mrs. Foote had hardly traversed a few feet when she was bitten on the right forearm “by a shark. The two w-omen lost no time in reaching safety. Describing the incident to a Sifti re-

presentative yesterday, an eye-witness stated that the women were in comparatively shallow water about four feet in depth. There was no sign of the shark until after the attack on Mrs. Foote, when he observed a smalL fin cut the water and then disappear. The woman bitten on the thigh suffered a nasty mauling, and Foote had sharp bite wounds on her arm. Both victims are progressing well, and it has not been necessary for them to leave the camp. The shark apparently was not a large one. Miranda is situated on the shores of the Hauraki Gulf, equidistant from New Brighton and Waitakaruru, which lie six miles north and south, respectively.