N.Y. Man Loses Leg in Bahamas Shark Attack

A man who lost his leg to a shark while in the Bahamas could be out of the hospital in a week.

Doctor Nicholas Namias calls Krishna Thompson, listed in critical condition at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami on Monday morning, a "real survivor" who should be able to start physical rehabilitation after his recovery.

Thompson's 10th wedding anniversary in Freeport, Grand Bahama became a nightmare when the shark attacked his left leg, damaging it to such an extent that it had to be amputated below the knee.

"He was just swimming off the beach when something, a shark, grabbed his leg and started pulling him down," Thompson's wife, Ave Maria Thompson, told The Miami Herald for Monday editions. "He kept punching and punching. He has cuts on his hands because of that."

Mrs. Thompson said her husband managed to free himself after a struggle and swam to shore using only his right leg, because the other was mangled.

Onlookers helped him to shore, where he collapsed. He wrote his room number in the sand before he passed out. Hotel officials then called Mrs. Thompson.

"He knew that was the only way they were going to find me in time," his wife said. "He is so brave. To fight off a shark and then think to do that."

Thompson was first taken to a Bahamian hospital, where he went into cardiac arrest and  received blood transfusions. He was transferred to Jackson's Ryder Trauma Center in Miami, where surgeons amputated his leg.

Mrs. Thompson said that though her husband seems alert, doctors told her there was a possibility of brain damage and other complications because he lost so much blood.

On July 6, in another highly publicized shark attack, 8-year-old Jessie Arbogast lost his arm to a 6-foot bull shark while he played in shallow waters on a beach in Pensacola, Fla. Jessie's uncle wrestled the shark to shore, where it was shot. Jessie's arm was pulled out of the shark and reattached after 11 hours of surgery.

The boy suffered damage to all his internal organs because of blood loss. Doctors said late last week that his condition is improving, but he remains in a light coma.

In a bid to cut down on the growing number of fatal attacks from the most fearsome fish in the sea, scientists are clamping satellite antennas to the fins of great white sharks. When the sharks surface — an average of once every two days — their precise locations are transmitted to a satellite, then posted on a Web site.

It was not reported what kind of shark attacked Thompson.