Lifeguard Attacked, Killed by Shark

HORRIFIED onlookers watched in shock when a lifeguard on the Wild Coast was pulled off his paddling board by a shark and killed.

Lifeguard Tshintshekile Nduva, 22, of Noqekwana village in Port St Johns, disappeared beneath the water at Second Beach, Port St Johns, at about 2.30pm on Friday during the attack, witnessed by a co-lifeguard.

Police said yesterday none of Nduva’s remains had yet been found.

Second Beach remained closed for the weekend after the attack.

National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) station commander John Costello said yesterday the swimming side of the beach had been closed and he was not sure when it would be opened to the public.

Lifeguard Abongile Maza, who was paddling a few metres behind Nduva, said yesterday the attack had been sudden and vicious, adding that the water had turned blood red.

“I could not believe what I saw with my own eyes, because it did not seem real,” he said.

Khaya Mjo Wild Coast Guards managing director said: “He was riding the waves on his knee board with another lifeguard who was riding from a distance.

“The other lifeguard said he only heard him scream, then he saw him raise a hand and there was only blood.”

Mjo has appealed for government intervention and for investigations into a spate of shark attacks at popular Port St Johns.

“Why are only lifeguards the ones being attacked while nothing happens to ordinary people. Why do these attacks happen at the same beach,” he questioned.

Costello said witnesses he spoke to saw Nduva’s hands in the air before his whole body disappeared under water and the sea turned red. He said the shark could not be identified because it was impossible to make an analysis without seeing the bite marks.