LAUDERDALE-BY-THE-SEA,
Fla. (AP) - A shark bit an Ohio swim coach on the arm Monday as the man
swam in the Atlantic Ocean.
Matthew
May, of Coldwater, Ohio, was in town with a group of children for a
swimming tournament at the International Swimming Hall of Fame.
May,
29, was bitten twice on his left arm. Doctors at North Ridge Medical
Center, where May received 11 stitches, said the bite appeared to come
from a shark.
"I thought
at first it was probably a jellyfish," May said at a news conference,
wearing a large bandage on his left arm above the elbow. "Then I saw
there was blood in the water and blood running down my arm, and I realized
it was serious."
George
Burgess, director of the International Shark Attack File at the Florida
Museum of Natural History in Gainesville, said it was the fifth Florida
shark attack this year.
He told
the South Florida Sun-Sentinel that the incident was typical of Florida
shark attacks - a quick bite, a release and an injury that was not life
threatening.
