Swimmers evacuated at Boscombe after ‘shark’ spotted

Swimmers were told to get out of the water at a Bournemouth beach due to a suspected shark sighting earlier this week.

A tannoy announcement was made telling people to get to the shore because of ‘large marine wildlife’ in the water as RNLI lifeguards put up the red flags.

“The lifeguard put out a loudspeaker announcement saying ‘everyone out of the water. There is marine wildlife in the water’,” witness Gemma Harris told the Metro.

“Everybody rushed out of the water and the RNLI response was very effective.

“They checked the water for about half-an-hour before letting bathers back in.

“Apparently a fin was spotted. We heard one of the RNLI team say it was a shark but nothing has been confirmed.”

Darron Tapper was fishing from his kayak at the time.

He told the Daily Mail that the ‘shark’ pulled his fishing rod out of his hands and almost dragged him in with it when it went for the lure on the end of his line.

He saw a large shadow under the surface but was unable to identify the creature – which he thinks may have been a shark due to the sheer power of its bite.

“I was pulling a lure back into shore and something grabbed that, I almost turned over in my kayak,” says Tapper.

“I spun around and saw a big shadow.”

“It is very possible (it was a shark) I’m speculating that, I don’t know what else would have the power.

“If you saw how it took my rod and reel I didn’t stand a chance (if the kayak had gone over). God knows what would have happened, I looked like a seal in my wetsuit.

“In 13 years I have never ever experienced that, it is a bit of a thrill to think I escaped the clutches.

“I had caught nine fish already and you could tell there was a predator in the water because of how animated the fish were.

“I started rowing back to the shore but still had my lure out as a fisherman loves one last catch.

“I was about to reel it in as I was getting to where people were swimming when I heard a bang.

“The creature had gone for my lure with so much power my kayak spun around. It may have been a tope, a blue or a porbeagle shark. It only lasted a few seconds and I zig-zagged back to shore with a hole in the kayak.”

A spokesperson for the RNLI says there were three reports of some kind of ‘large marine life’.

But the animal wasn’t seen again. Nor is it not known what species of shark swimmers thought they saw in the shallow water.