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WPEC-TV CBS12 News :: News - Palm Beach County News - New photos show dramatic Vero Beach shark bite rescue

New photos show dramatic Vero Beach shark bite rescue

VERO BEACH, Fla. -- Shark experts say judging by the size and severity of the woman's injuries, it was a bull or tiger shark that likely bit a tourist in Vero Beach.    

That tourist is recovering from the shark bite at Lawnwood Regional Medical Center in Fort Pierce. The rescue was dramatic and the 911 calls for help frantic. But an expert says bites like this are still incredibly rare.

CALLER: What bit her? What bit her? A shark!

OPERATOR: It's a shark bite?

CALLER:Yes it is... its huge ma'am! Her whole chunk is out of her leg we need someone quickly.

A shark bite creates chaos on a local beach. 47-year-old Karin Stei is better tonight after Wednesday's shark bite. Newly released pictures show the race to rescue Karin, bandage up her leg, and get her to the hospital.

Dr. Gary Goss: Occasionally someone is in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Dr. Gary Goss, a Palm Beach Atlantic professor and shark expert, says a bull or tiger shark likely bit Karin in the shallow water near Humiston Park in Vero Beach.

Dr. Goss: Big shark and big bite equals serious damage.

He says along Florida's east coast, the hot zones for shark bites are from the Jupiter area north, where the water becomes more cloudy. Also if you see schools of fish, sharks could be nearby.

Dr. Goss: A shark bite is uncommon to start with, that the probability of anyone being bitten is almost zero.

There will be many more nights spent at the hospital before Karin can go back home to Germany. But she will return with stories of how lifeguards, concerned strangers, 911 operators, and paramedics helped her when every second mattered here in Florida.

OPERATOR: How is her breathing?

CALLER: How is her breathing? There's an oxygen tank here right now, a lifeguard is here.

OPERATOR: So there's a lifeguard with her?

CALLER: Yeah there's a lifeguard and a lot of people with her here putting pressure on her leg.

Karen has had surgery. But doctors say its still unclear if she will lose her leg. Meanwhile, the beach where this all happened, is back open to swimmers. New photos show dramatic Vero Beach shark bite rescue

Friday, May 11 2012, 12:28 AM EDT

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