The beaches are a popular spot for relaxation, but the host of marine predators that inhabit the area has provoked safety concerns. Locals’ fears of shark attacks were proved to be well placed, when at around noon on September 15, 2018, 26-year-old Arthur Medici was attacked and killed near Newcomb Hollow Beach on Cape Cod. Medici’s death was thought to be the result of a great white attack, but given the array of breeds that circle the area, it is often difficult to confirm which type of shark is at the centre of attacks.
Despite Cape Cod’s reputation, this was the first fatal shark attack in Massachusetts since 1936, when a 16-year-old boy was killed having been grabbed and bitten by a 6-foot shark and dragged underwater less than 50 yards from shore at Hollywoods Beach, Mattapoisett.
There is however, a beach in South Africa which has seen seven fatal shark attacks since 2006, and has become a notoriously dangerous hunting ground located on South Africa’s southeastern Indian Ocean coast.
The frequency of tragic encounters with great whites, bull and tiger sharks at Port St. John’s, Eastern Cape Province, has led many to dub the otherwise picturesque coastline the “deadliest beach in the world”.
The most recent attack saw Friedrich Burgstaller, 66, killed by a bull shark on March 22, 2014.
Burgstaller was standing in waist-deep water at Second Beach, when the shark attacked, biting his leg.
He started to wade to shore, but fell. Burgstaller tried to punch the shark, but his arm was severed when it went straight into its mouth.
A current then swept him out from shore. He tried to swim back with only one arm, but his injuries were too severe to survive.
Experts suggested that a bull shark, about 2m (6.5 ft) in length was behind the vicious assault.
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Rod Hastier, a Port St Johns resident who worked with the Natal Sharks Board for 16 years, told The Telegraph in 2012 that people should avoid the waters altogether.
He said: “There’s nothing that can be done in terms of protection so it’s better to say people shouldn’t go swimming during the summer months when sharks are here.
“From a marketing point of view, they just need to leave swimming out of it and promote what else we have to offer instead, and we have plenty to offer.”
With great whites, bull and tiger sharks all posing significant threats at Port St. John’s Second Beach, tourists and locals would be foolish to treat the waters as they would any ordinary beach.