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A SHARK BIT a 68-year-old man several times in waist-deep water off North Carolina’s Outer Banks, officials said, the seventh in a record-breaking year of shark attacks for the state’s coastal waters.
A spokeswoman at the Greenville, North Carolina, hospital where he was taken said last night that the man, Andrew Costello, was in fair condition.
He suffered wounds to his ribcage, lower leg, hip and both hands as he tried to fight off the animal, said Justin Gibbs, the director of emergency services in Hyde County.
The attack happened around noon on a beach on Ocracoke Island, right in front of a lifeguard tower, he said.
Pulled under
“He was pulled under by the shark,” said Gibbs, who said witnesses reported the animal was about seven feet long.
The man was swimming in waist-deep water with his adult son about 30 feet offshore, the National Park Service said in a news release. There were no other swimmers injured.
Costello was the former editor-in-chief of the Boston Herald, the newspaper reported early today.
Costello’s niece, Freya Solray, told the newspaper Costello’s wife and sons were with him at the hospital, where he was “doing well.”
Costello is the seventh person attacked along the North Carolina coast in three weeks, the most in one year in the 80 years for which the Florida Museum of Natural History’s International Shark Attack File keeps records.
The highest previous total was five attacks in 2010. Three of the 52 confirmed shark attacks between 1935 and 2014 were deadly, according to the database.
Shallow water
Most of this year’s attacks happened in shallow water. The injuries ranged widely: An 8-year-old boy had only minor wounds to his heel and ankle, while at least two others have required amputation.
Another person attacked Saturday had initially been considered at critical risk of dying.
Swimmers were back in the water within a couple of hours, witness Laura Hefty said.
“Nobody seems to be that scared,” she said.
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There is something sickening about this. He has decimated mental health funding but shows up to support suicide prevention. kenny has also created a hierarchy of abuse victims, slashing funding to rape crisis centers and sealing files on institutional abuse for 75 years, while at the same time putting 5 hours of Dail time aside to debate a single abuse case which happened in another jurisdiction, because there political hay to be made.
Anyone paying attention will realise after a few seconds that governments rely on announcements for key issues that completely ignore the overall situation that creates the issue. It’s textbook Irish politics. There’s also no real point in a politician stating a child has the right to be born, if that politician also doesn’t vote accordingly for the right of a child not to live in consistent poverty with inadequate childcare, related public services, etc. and most of all the right of a child to live in a country where politicians actually display commitment to anything beyond getting elected, getting into government, getting a ministry and getting re-elected. There are reasons for the suicide levels we have in this country and governments have had a very significant role in creating the economic and societal reasons that lead to so many suicides.
Great comment David and For Connolly. hit the nail on the head there.
As someone who recently lost a family member to depression, I urge anyone who is thinking about suicide to please talk to a friend, a family member, a colleague or a help line. Suicide is never the answer.
Samaritans 18 50 60 90 90
1 life Freephone (24hrs) 1800 247 100 or text the word HELP to 51444
http://www.yspi.eu/
fair play Dave. sorry to hear about your family member. cant speak any highly of Samaritans. was involved for a few years
The promotion of lonliness within a society has political roots – this initiative by the Government is welcome but in light of the attack on single parents earning potential yesterday in the Dail then it appears to be somewhat rooted in the “let’s pretend we are human , pretend we care ” bracket.
Stress kills in so many ways and Austerity is European designed and politically party delivered depression to so many families …
Direct provision
Emigration coupled with immigration
Poor childcare provision
The list is endless and we having voted for a Children’s referendum ..
And of course For Connolly’s comment below ….
Bit late for those who couldn’t survive your austerity policies Enda.
Two suicides in Clare last week Ennis acute psychiatric hspt being downsized in Sept/ Oct st Michaels in Tipperary closed down people with drug and alcohol problems admitted to psychiatric wards because there’s no dual diagnosis services people at risk and have been assaulted in psychiatric hspt because people all thrown in together no specialised units end a you are a smug uncaring man
How many people committed suicide due to their hopes and dreams being ruined by Greed and 2 corrupt governments.
Election next year everybody…
Knob Enda is simply launching a propaganda vehicle to pretend that he actually cares about ordinary citizens. (He doesn’t, never has beyond some photocall PR)
Don’t be fooled, mental health services (under which drug issues should come, when we’ve stopped brutally criminalising the afflicted) are systematically abysmally resourced.
Absolutely nothing of substance will be done by Enda (or any of the main stream parties).
Why am I so sure?
1. The record of mental health support resourcing, which anyone working in the sector will tell you (except of course ambitious manager classes keen to please their political masters & be suitably rewarded etc.)
2. The fact that by the very nature of mental (ill) health, the people who know the truth about Authorities’ neglect and malfeasance – the patients – are unlikely to articulate it, or be believed if they do.
3. Consider what we now know of how Authorities (Civil, Legal, Church etc. – all the same ‘club’) behaved in (similar in many ways) child services & helped to cover up decades upon decades of abuse, torture and murder.
Think those attitudes have gone away among the Authorities? (Ha!)
Has there been ANY meaningful accountability of ANYTHING gone wrong under the ‘system’ control of the Authorities (incorporating the the top few percent in income and wealth)… EVER ??
Until we get meaningful democracy – which will never happen when we positively invite the just-line-your-own-and-mates’-pockets-retire-early-and-wealthy motivation, and promise not to look! – what people like Kenny is doing is just running the propaganda dept. for the interests he really serves.
Time to wake up….
Maybe we should start by looking for public representatives who are not simply motivated by grabbing as much wealth for themselves as possible?
I think we all know that very capable people, not motivated by money, but you know, actually doing a good job for their community, certainly exist.
But, the way we run our sham-ocracy (effectively still plutocracy, even after a century of pretending otherwise), we positively exclude such people from office.
There really is only one reason why majority citizens keep voting against their own interests…. mass propaganda control, best done of course, and perfected by the techniques developed from Edward Bernays onward, when people don’t realise such control is being exerted.
The age of the Internet is already loosening the power of mass (media) control…. don’t leave it too long before making the effort to discover the truth about how society continued to be controlled by the same elites, even after the introduction of universal suffrage this last century.
If you don’t take this opportunity soon to instigate real democracy – society actually functioning in the interests of the majority – well, you only need to look at what’s already happening to the most vulnerable (and least resonsible for the mess) in Greece… or those desparate refugees drowing in the Med…
Think the ruling classes care about YOU any more than them? (Think again!)
Election a bit earlier than that Mike – Labour have started with their circulars already !
The vital cuts to mental health services don’t help. Does Enda expect charities to pick up his incompetence in this area? The number of people who’ve taken their own lives in the lifetime of this government has gradually increased. Depression et al is not something you put an economic value on, otherwise you’re putting a figure on a life
To test your sincerity Enda, reverse attacks on mental health facilities, posts and funding. Go further by restoring guidance counsellors to ex quota school positions and put in extra counsellors in primary and secondary schools to undo the harm of the last 5 years.
You’ll be waiting. This is lip service.
Cuts to single parents allowance yesterday, Yeah right.
The only way i can see a mass prevention is by the Government resigning. And some sort of caring Government reversing all the cuts to mental health, frontline medical staff and stop taxing the most vulnerable in our society which is only adding to their worries, pushing some over the edge.
Great move forward , the glaring omission over the past fifteen years of the effects of sexual abuse and its weight on Irish society is a key to understanding why some people take their lives..
We need to remove the gender blaming and say abuse is abuse is abuse …
Like the gp’s and the under 6s this is another political stunt, remember we’re heading into a general election, expect more of this kind of cynical dishonesty from these dreadful people in the coming months
Kenny would lock his sick granny in a coal she’d if he thought it would get him reelected….. He has no shame. His deceits and lies since coming into government is the no1 aggravating factor in increased suicide figures
Having witnessed how the system works I am surprised it is not higher. Someone presenting them to a Dr about depression/suicidal ideations will be referred to hospital (this can take over a month), unless they have actually gotten to the stage where suicide has been attempted. Even if they present themselves to A&E for assessment (which is not an appropriate place for a person who is suicidal to be) they almost have to be stabbing themselves in front of all in A&E to be admitted, usually discharged with follow up appointment.
I do not blame the people in the mental health services who have seen their budgets/services slashed by this government over the past number of years.
Some of these “negative life events” as has been described could be helped with counselling but getting that service (unless rolling in money) is a very long process.
The best organisation is Pieta House, they do excellent work where the Govt should be providing to our citizens. The Samaritans advice was a cup of tea.
SO Edna along with all the other tripe you have served up over the past few years (and more so in run up to election year) your words are just that, words!
Are most suicides preventable? I’m not sure they are. I also think that too many suicides are attributed to depression.
It is estimated that 90% (US) of suicides are caused by depression but I don’t know how that figure is arrived at. Some explanations are suggested that certain life events trigger undiagnosed depression and subsequent suicide. Perhaps it is simply those life events themselves which drives people to suicide and that makes it much more difficult to prevent.
It would be fair to say that the people who are left carrying the can of the years of austerity are Irish males. 80% of the total social welfare receipt are Irish and the vast amount of welfare precipitants are Irish male. the working class has being totally f..c.ked over by the political elite for years.
Kenny’s assault on the Irish people, on behalf of his Euro-bosses has caused innumerable suicides, And now the worm has the audacity to pretend to care.
Don’t fool yourself Kenny, We know what you’re up to, you shameless liar.
I know they mean well, but I am really tired of seeing basic kindness and relaxation dressed up as “healthcare”. While real mental illnesses are ignored. The “scarier” illnesses like schizophrenia and bipolar are downright ignored, what we need is knowledge, understanding, and resources. How does a young person to about getting assessed for depression and accessing treatment ? For example.
Why don’t we have suicide crisis centres where people feeling sting urges can keep themselves safe and be supervised and seek a professional , haters of sending them to our already overcrowded emergency departments? When will ur schools teach teens how to recognise symptoms of depression and help work through it. When will we actually take young people’s pain seriously instead telling then they are ‘just stressed” or “its horemonal”
Well said claire
How many people have committed suicide because of Mr. Kenny’s reported allegiance to Jean Claude Trichet during the Bailout ?
Too many is the answer !
a good start would be actually caring for the well being of men in this country. would reduced it by well over 10% in the 5 years. sadly this wont be the case.
“The CSO confirmed figures for 2012 indicate that 541 people lost their lives by suicide. Provisional figures for 2013 (475 deaths) and 2014 (459 deaths) indicate a decrease in the numbers of deaths by suicide.”
…So by doing nothing suicide figures are down 15% is the last 3 years, and they’re announcing an ambitious strategy to reduce it by 10% by 2020, they’re some fcuking heroes alright…
Was just listening to kathleen lynch on the radio. What is it with our sub standard politicians and gov that they just cannot admit responsibility or even share responsibity for anything. Lynch was saying all people with mental health problems have a long history of mental health problems before they reach the stage of needing pro help. The woman from pieta house says that over 70 percent of people they treat have no previous mental health issues, that their problems arise as a result of a life event. Who do you believe, the professional from pieta house or the politician?
Article today about people with psychosis on trolleys in a+ e depts for hours nurses illequpped to deal with this sometimes people sent home.why don’t the acute psychiatric hspts have an a+ e depths. Why do people have to go to a+ e it doesn’t make sense
A good start for this would be a serious discussion about our binge drinking culture. Getting hammered all the time because it’s considered normal can really push vulnerable people over the edge. Just because the $hit’s legal doesn’t mean it’s safe. As a country we need to f****g wake up.
Sad about the distraction on political issues even though austerity is a factor.
I see that 30,000 people completed ASIST training (Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training). I highly recommend it. I did it 4 years ago and have done the refresher course every 2 years.
http://www.hse.ie/portal/eng/services/list/4/Mental_Health_Services/NOSP/Training/training.html
While our mental health system revolves around the biomedical model ie drugs progress in this area will be difficult.
have your say