Apr 30, 2008 5:51 pm US/Pacific
San Francisco Surfer Dies In Mexico Shark Attack
IXTAPA, Mexico (CBS 5 / AP) ―
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Adrian Ruiz, a San Francisco surfer who died after a shark attack victim in Mexico.
CBS
A San Francisco bartender died after a shark attacked him while he was surfing off Mexico's southern Pacific coast earlier this week, authorities in the southern state of Guerrero said.
The surfer was identified by the Mexican newspaper Despertar de la Costa as 24-year old Adrian Ruiz.
He bled to death on Monday after a tiger shark bit his right thigh, leaving a 15-inch wound, the Guerrero state Public Safety Department said in a statement.
The U.S. Embassy in Mexico could not immediately confirm details, but local officials said Ruiz was surfing with a fellow American. The other man was not injured.
The attack occurred at the Troncones beach, about 45 minutes west by car from the beach resort of Ixtapa.
The statement said Ruiz suffered wounds "that reached from the hip to the knee, exposing the femur."
Ruiz was still alive when he was brought back to the beach. While an ambulance was called, it took so long to reach Troncones - a relatively isolated, undeveloped beach - that a bystander took Ruiz to a local naval hospital in his car.
Ruiz, however, died a few minutes after reaching the hospital "due to a loss of blood," according to the government statement.
Shark attacks are relatively rare in Mexico. In 2006, the International Shark Attack File at the Florida Museum of Natural History reported only one attack in Mexico, which was not fatal.
The newspaper said the shark, estimated to weigh as much as 660 pounds, attacked Ruiz about 325 yards from shore. The paper said Ruiz had just arrived for a vacation with six friends.
Friends remembered Ruiz, who worked as a bartender, as a dedicated surfer and fun-loving co-worker who was quick to crack a joke.
"He was always coming in to work after a surf session," said Chris Morin, 38, a fellow bartender at the Blue Light, in the San Francisco's Marina District. "Everybody's in shock here."
It was the second deadly shark attack in the Pacific Ocean in less than a week.
Sixty-six-year-old triathlete David Martin died last Friday of blood loss after being bitten by a great white shark off the San Diego coast.
There have also been several non-fatal shark attacks along Florida beaches in the Atlantic Ocean in recent days.
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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