Barracuda suspected in rare attack on isle diver

[emad]

By Mary Vorsino
[e-mail]

Just before the attack, Tonga Loumoli remembers spotting several sharks -- seemingly sniffing his catches.

They left him alone, though.

Rather, it was another fish that landed Loumoli in the intensive-care unit at the Queen's Medical Center with a 6-inch-long gash to his abdomen and potentially irreparable damage to his liver.

In a highly unusual incident, a 4-foot-long fish that Loumoli is certain was a barracuda charged into the 19-year-old's stomach while he was night diving Thursday off Kahana Bay near Kaaawa. When the animal wriggled loose, it left behind a substantial wound and a tooth.

"It came full strength and hit him from the front, on the stomach," Loumoli's mother, Paea, said yesterday. "It ran straight into him."

Doctors say the Mililani resident is lucky to be alive. He is also quite fortunate to have been swimming with Braven Rivera, a quick-thinking buddy, who threw Loumoli into a small dinghy, dragged him nearly a mile to shore and flagged down an officer who called for help.

http://starbulletin.com/2005/07/23/news/story3.html

[rocktivity]

1. Hopefully, they'll run some kind of analysis of the tooth

:scared:
rocknation

[no name no slogan]

2. Dammit. Thanks for the earworm

djug djugga-djug djugga-djug djugga-djug djug djug djug wahh....wheeee

[Dora]

5. You gonna burn burn burn burn

If the real thing don’t do the trick
No, you better make up something quick
You gonna burn burn burn burn it to the wick
Ooooooohhhh, barra barracuda.

[Shell Beau]

3. Barracuda? That is

creepy. I have always thought those fish were evil looking.

[Misunderestimator]

4. Well, that sucks... I saw a small school of barracuda once...

while snorkeling in Mexico... Guess I'm glad I didn't know they were capable of THAT... or I would have panicked. :scared: