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A man (26) has died in hospital after being bitten by a shark off Cape Cod in the United States.
Arthur Medici of Revere, Massachusetts as attacked around noon on Saturday off Newcomb Hollow Beach, police said. He is the state’s first shark attack fatality in more than 80 years.
Joe Booth, a local fisherman and surfer, said he was on shore when he saw the man and his friend boogie boarding when the attack happened.
He said he saw the man aggressively kick something behind him and a flicker of a tail from the water. He realised what was happening when the friend came ashore dragging his injured friend.
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“I was that guy on the beach screaming, ‘Shark, shark!” Mr Booth said. “It was like right out of that movie Jaws. This has turned into Amity Island real quick out here.”
He said others on the beach attempted to make a tourniquet while others called the emergency services.
Life-saving measures were attempted on the beach before the man was taken to Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis, where he was pronounced dead, State Police spokesman David Procopio said.
It was the first fatal shark attack in Massachusetts since 1936, and the second shark attack this season.
A 61-year-old New York man was severely injured on August 15 after fighting off a shark off Truro, about four miles north of Saturday’s attack. – PA