Shark attack: British victim was 'saved by seal' - Mirror.co.uk

Shark is spotted after attacking a Brit off coast of Cape Town (Pic: YouTube)

Shark attack victim Michael Cohen was saved by a seal who fended off the Great White shark as the beast prepared to make a second and final attack on the stricken Brit.

Michael Cohen lost more than seven litres of blood after having his right leg ripped off and left leg bitten through after entering the water - despite flags warning a shark was in the area

Local men Douglas Drysdale, 61, and Hugh Till, 66, risked their life by wading into the water to drag Mr Cohen to safety.

However, as they did, the shark began to swim directly towards the three men.

Witnesses on the beach in Cape Town, South Africa, have reported that a seal appeared and swam between the men and the shark before circling the trio until they made it to shore.

The men then made a makeshift tourniquet using a wetsuit and two belts to stop Mr Cohen from bleeding to death.

Craig Lambinon from the National Sea Rescue Institute said: "Rescuers on the scene and eye-witnesses confirmed that a shark remained close to the scene throughout the medical efforts to save the victim, and it has been confirmed that a seal was swimming close by during the entire episode.

"Eye-witnesses confirmed that the seal circled the men as they gradually waded ashore with the victim in the presence of a shark that remained close by."

The men from Fish Hoek had been returning home from work when they spotted the shark in the water near to a lone swimmer.

They parked up and ran down to the beach shouting for the swimmer to get out of the water but by the time they reached Mr Cohen, the shark had already struck.

Today Mr Drysdale and Mr Till were hailed as heroes by Professor Andrew Nicol who operated on Mr Cohen.

He said: "That tourniquet has consisted of a wetsuit applied around the thigh and wrapped around with two belts very, very tightly.

"It was an amateur tourniquet but it had almost completely resulted in a cessation of blood loss. I just want to commend the first aid work of those on the beach and the tremendous way in which they responded actually saved the life of this patient."

Prof Nicol explained that doctors were doing everything their power to save Mr Cohen's left leg.

He explained that Mr Cohen was in a critical but stable condition and was being kept heavily sedated due to his injuries.

Gregg Oelofse of the Cape Town Environmental Management Department said that the beach was closed at the time of the attack because Great White sharks had been spotted.

The first sighting was at 9.30am and Mr Oelofse said: "The siren was sounded, and the beach was closed. It was reopened at about 9.45am, under a red flag, which goes up after a sighting, indicating there are sharks in the area.

"The sharks were sighted again at about 10.50am, and the beach was again closed, under the white 'shark' flag.

"When the man had entered the water at Clovelly Corner one spotter ran down the beach and another drove down to Clovelly Corner, but "the shark attack had taken place.

"When they saw him, they did try to sound the siren, but the electricity outage made this impossible."