Surfer Sullivan 'fine' after shark attack

Shark attack victim Chris Sullivan is "doing fine", according to Constantiaberg Medi-Clinic emergency unit manager Barbara Lander.

Sullivan underwent surgery on Monday afternoon for lacerations to his lower right leg and will be recuperating in the clinic for a few days.

He was not feeling well enough to talk to the press yesterday but was planning a press conference today.

"The day before this attack we were discussing how the whole wave of shark sightings has gone down," NSRI spokesman Ian Klopper said.

Around the time Fish Hoek resident Tyna Webb was killed by a shark last year, there was a "massive volume" of sharks in the water. Klopper said that it was not the same this time.

Skymed pilot Lefan Blake, who flew Sullivan to the clinic on Monday from Noordhoek beach, said that last Thursday on a flight from Hermanus he had spotted 15 sharks in Betty's Bay about 150 metres from the beach.

"It was very unusual for us to see so many sharks grouped together so close to the beach," he said.

They had alerted local authorities who had warned bathers to get out of the water.