French surfer bit by freak "fish" 2 kilometers out of Yaque beach

<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic Journal Posted: Monday, April 28, 2003 By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue

French Surfing enthusiast Yann Perras (28) got the fright of his life during a dream holiday on Venezuela's Isla de Margarita beaches. The civil engineer arrived at his holiday destination on April 10 with his wife and six-month daughter and started surfing on El Yaque beach now famous for its surfing qualities.

On April 11, the experienced surfer went 2 kilometers off shore waiting for the right tide and was fixing his board when he felt his right foot being bitten by a fish. 

Two German yachtsmen spotted the Frenchman's predicament and pulled him to safety on the beach where he was attended by a passing doctor bathing on the beach and later by local firefighters who took him to hospital where he was operated on. 

Margarita Marine Research Museum coordinator, Alfredo Gomez says it was a freak accident and the first time in 50 years that a shark has attacked anyone .... "in the zone where the accident happened, it could have been a Barracuda Grande or a small shark." Perras remained in in a clinic and last Friday returned home to France.