'I saw his teeth'

2003-08-08 22:51

Enrico Claassen

Jeffreys Bay - A young surfer of Mossel Bay is still recovering from shock after he miraculously survived a shark attack.

Joseph Krone, 15, was attacked by a white death shark while surfing at Seal Point.

He was drifting on his surfboard about 08:00 before the start of the Billabong/Polar Ice Junior Surfing competition.

Suddenly his surfboard was lifted out of the water and he was thrown into the air. He thought his friends were playing a prank.

The next moment he saw a shark.

"I saw his teeth as he took my surfboard into his mouth. "I was so frightened, I could only watch how he bit a huge piece out of it." Krone said.

Shannon Ainslie, who also happened to be in the water, heard Krone's screams.

He said he couldn't believe his eyes when he say the three-metre shark with Krone's surfboard in his mouth.

Ainslie was about 5m away from Krone.

"I immediately swam to Joseph, helped him onto my board and made for the beach. We were so frightened that the shark would return, Ainslie said.

Krone said he recovered from the worst shock after drinking a cup of sweet tea and a Coke.

The competition has been moved to St Francis Bay.

"I'm still a bit scared, but I'm definitely going to take part in the competition," Krone said.

Andy Thysman, chair of the Jeffreys Bay surf club, said shark attacks do not occur regularly, Cindy Liebenberg reported.

Thysman said the last shark attack took place on April 9 last year. Dunstan Hogan was attacked by a shark, but survived.

Three years ago Jan-Hendrik Opperman, a Stellenbosch university student, was attacked at Seal Point. He also survived.

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