Rescuers of great white shark victim narrowly avoid being mauled too

Two men who rescued a British swimmer after he was mauled by a shark were themselves very nearly attacked by the same great white.

The pair, in their sixties, were pulling stricken Michael Cohen back to shore when the 10ft-long shark was spotted just 10 yards from them.

It was only the sudden appearance of a seal that distracted the shark and enabled the trio to get to the beach.

Mr Cohen, 43, was mauled as he swam off Fish Hoek near Cape Town, South Africa, yesterday lunchtime.
The Briton, who lives in South Africa, was bitten "numerous times" and lost his right leg and much of his left foot. He was today "critical" in hospital as doctors battled to save his left leg.

It emerged today that Douglas Drysdale, 61, and Hugh Till, 66, saw the attack from cliffs above the bay after spotting a shark's distinctive outline heading towards a lone swimmer.

Craig Lambinon, of South Africa's National Sea Rescue Institute, said: "They shouted and waved at the man, but he didn't notice. By the time they got there he'd been bitten and was struggling in the water."

He said the men, volunteer preachers at a prison, waded out to Mr Cohen but onlookers started yelling that the shark had returned and was heading towards them. It was homing in on them when the seal appeared and distracted it.

Canadian-born Mr Cohen, who has a UK passport and previously lived in Chiswick, regularly swam in the area.

The accountant entered the sea yesterday even though the beach had been closed after three sharks were spotted. Onlookers said he walked past a flag indicating a shark was in the water.

Witness Tracy Sassen, a former South African surfing champion, said: "The man was crying and pleading, 'Please help me'. He was white and in shock. Half one leg was missing."

Kathy Geldenhuis, 58, who helped paramedics, said: "You could tell there was a shark because seals were coming as close as they could to the beach and fish were jumping out of the water."

Monwabisi Sikweyiya, one of the shark-spotters who guards the bay, said: "Mr Cohen was very interested in sharks but never took any notice of our warnings. We told him he was taking a risk, but he always said, "If a shark takes me then blame me, not the shark'."

As chilling video footage of the shark circulated on the internet, Cape Town announced that all beaches in the area would remain closed today.

False Bay, where Fish Hoek is located, has one of the world's highest densities of great white sharks. A 37-year-old Zimbabwean man was killed by one in January last year off the same beach.