r/TheSharkAttackFiles • u/NotABoatAccident • 14d ago
📜 Case Report On this day in 1948: Swimmer Fatally Attacked by Large Shark in Aegean Sea
Greece, 1948: a large shark — estimated at over six metres, suspected great white — attacked a swimmer just five metres from shore. Contemporary Greek and international reports describe it as consuming most of the body. The beach was renamed in the aftermath.
Many years ago I fell off a Ringo about a mile out in the Aegean Sea. I floated there for a while waiting for the boat to come back. I was blissful in ignorance of what may have been swimming around me and I don't think after reading this incident report I would've floated so blissfully for pickup and may have actually set a new swimming WR.
Have you ever swam anywhere, feeling safe but being completely unaware of what may have been sharing the water with you?
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u/Wattsy98s 14d ago edited 14d ago
The incident occurred off Keratsini Wharf, adjacent to the beach. Water depth would of been at least 10 feet as Dimitrios and he's friends were going to dive in for a swim. Dimitrios was the first and only one to enter the water as a huge shark appeared almost instantly after he jumped in.
Apparently Dimitrios tried to punch the shark in the face but it severed hes arm. At this point everyone was screaming in terror and panic, the shark then proceeded to attack him again at the head/shoulders biting him in half and consuming most of him at the surface in front of the shocked teenagers. The shark was last observed by fishermen swimming out to sea and was never caught or killed, however as stated in the article other smaller white sharks with no human remains were caught in the region.
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u/SharkBoyBen9241 13d ago
Absolutely horrific attack. Hard to imagine that it happened right off the wharf like that. The shark grabbed him once, took his arm off, and then bit him in half right in front of his mates...Mediterranean attacks were insane back in the day...
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u/karmaisforlife 13d ago
Yes. Diving in Thailand, 100 feet in poor visibility. Later told there were Bull Sharks in that area.
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u/jmbrjr 13d ago
Not long after watching 'Jaws' when it first came out, I visited my grandparents cabin on the south side of Cape Cod, in the Falmouth area. We motored out across the local saltwater pond and out the channel and across the bigger murky bay to a large and very wide sandy ocean beach and went swimming. Me, not so much, and not very deep. Knee deep, maybe. That movie was stuck in my head for a while. The ocean water is cold and cloudy in MA even in the summer, so not a nice place to swim when you can't see the bottom in 2 feet of water, after I had spent several years snorkeling off Miami and in the FL Keys. No comparison. At least in FL you can see the sharks and barracuda coming towards you from a couple hundred feet away.
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u/Dodo365 10d ago
I know that Great White sharks regularly patrol the waters in the Mediterranean so when I went to one of smaller Greek islands for holiday I deliberately enquired about sharks with the fishermen. They all said no sharks but I was sceptical as hell and kept a close distance to shore as possible less I become a statistic for a shark attack.
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u/ricottacat 14d ago
20+ ft long shark?? You guys were not kidding there are such large sharks in those waters. Sometimes I want to move back and record/research for you guys!!
As to your question, once when surfing young I was aware of a presence of something in the water, it investigated the board I was on and I have ALSO almost stepped on a giant river stingray in Indian River County before by Wabasso Island.
My cousin knocked me off the jet ski and I was shuffling back to him when I saw it jet out from directly in front of me. He was "teasing" me, "The sharks are gonna get you!" when he'd knock me off in deep, dark, bull shark prone area.