A bull shark (Carcharhinus leucas) is believed to be responsible for the attack on a German woman in the sea off Nang Thong Beach in Takua Pa district of Phang-nga province on Friday, according to the Phuket Marine Fisheries Research and Development Centre.
The creature was identified from the teeth marks it left below the knee on the woman’s left leg.
The victim was initially rushed to a clinic in Khao Lak and later taken to a private hospital in Phuket for treatment.
After the incident, hotels in the Khao Lak area were asked to advise their guests not to swim in the sea for their safety. Red flags are also being flown on the beach, to warn people to exercise caution.
Meanwhile, Dr. Thon Thamrongnawasawat, a marine expert at Kasetsart University, wrote in his Facebook post today that, from the images of the wounds on the victim’s leg, he believes the teeth marks are indeed those of a shark.
He said the bite below the knee of the victim, who was swimming in water only about 1.5 metres deep, suggests that the shark mistook the moving legs in shallow water as prey.
The fact that there was just one bite also indicates that the shark realised that the woman was not its natural prey and swam away, said Dr. Thon, adding that there were similar non-fatal attacks reported off Phuket several years ago.
He insisted that the incident should not lead to indiscriminate hunting of sharks. Many sharks in the Thai waters are killed just for their fins.
The previous shark attack was reported on May 2nd, 2022, in the sea off Kamala Beach in Phuket. The victim was a Thai-Ukrainian, who is also believed to have been attacked by a bull shark.
