INQUISITR.COM / News & Politics

South African Great White Shark Attack Turns Into Double Shock

By Anne Sewell
Published on: 04:37 PST, Jun 28, 2015

A sea rescue volunteer in Plettenberg Bay got a double whammy shock as he responded to a report of a great white shark attack, only to find the victim was his own son.

Marty Reddering has been a volunteer with the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) in South Africa for 41 years, so he’s used to being called out for various rescues, including the occasional great white shark attack. However, this particular call on Friday was something else.

Reddering was still suffering shock on Saturday when he told the South African media that the call he received was to rescue his own son.

Dylan Reddering, 23, is a student at the University of Cape Town and enjoys surfing, but Friday’s surfing experience went wrong as he was attacked by a three-meter great white shark.

While Dylan was out surfing on Friday afternoon, his father was apparently at home when he heard the emergency siren, indicating an incident out at sea. Reddering immediately rushed to respond to the emergency. He told IOL that he didn’t at first realize it was his own son.

“I didn’t know it was my son. When I got to the (NSRI) station I was told there’s a shark attack.

The boats were already out. A friend called me (and said) it was Dylan.

My friend said: ‘Dylan is okay, don’t worry.’ You have no idea what those words meant.”

After the incident, Dylan told his father that he was surfing off Look Out beach when he was attacked by the shark. Dylan told Reddering that during the great white shark attack, he kicked and beat the shark away from him, but then got caught in a current when trying to swim back to the shore.

“Dylan didn’t see anything. It just hit him from below. He said he was beating and kicking it and then he caught the next wave (using his surfboard).

But then he was stuck in a current.”

Apparently, friends pulled Dylan from the water before Reddering arrived on the scene and he said his son was calm, even joking about the situation.

“He dealt with it extremely well.”

While Dylan did survive the experience, he did receive a deep gash to his right hip and buttocks. He was taken to the Life Knysna Private Hospital for treatment Saturday, where he is apparently still in pain.

Apparently, the shark was around two to three meters in size, so Dylan is lucky to be alive. Reddering acknowledged that his injuries could have been much worse, but luckily the shark missed arteries and the gash was fortunately not too deep.

Apparently, Dylan has already told his father that he will continue surfing once he is recovered, as it is his passion. Reddering says that they have often surfed together and seen sharks, but never anything quite like this one.

According to News24, this incident happened the day before yet another great white shark attack at Buffels Bay, which caused a 19-year-old surfer to lose his right leg.

With two great white shark attacks in two days, the NSRI are now urging surfers and bathers to enter the water with caution, but preferably to stay away until authorities advise further on the situation.

Of course, it’s not only South Africa that is experiencing a number of great white shark attacks, as the Inquisitr recently reported that Cape Cod may see a record number of great whites this year.

[Image: CC BY-NC 2.0 kqedquest]

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