FATAL – August 2005 (Inquest 25 February 2008) – Glenelg, South Australia - diver attacked

A report out of Adelaide, Australia on 25 February 2008, relates details of an inquest into the fatal shark attack on Jarrod Stehbens, 23, at Glenelg, South Australia in August 2005.

Shark Attack Monitor reported the incident in August 2005.

Stehbens was diving with Justin Rowntree. The pair was doing research for the University of Adelaide.

Rowntree told the Coroner’s Court: “I was looking at Jarrod when I felt a whack on the back which rotated me around.

“Initially I thought it was a dolphin but pretty quickly I realised it was not.”

He said Stehbens was a highly experienced diver who fought for his life against the five meter Great White shark.

“It went straight towards Jarrod, initially he whacked it directly on the snout and it seemed to go away momentarily,” Rowntree said.

“Then it came back and took his leg and dragged him under ... it happened like a flash.”

He said it would have been Stehbens’ last dive in South Australia before he went to live in Germany.

Sources:
Daily Telegraph