German tourist killed “by shark’

BANGKOK (AFP): A German tourist has died after apparently being bitten by a shark in the waters off Koh Pha Ngan, police said today. The man, identified by police as Stephan Olaf Kahl, 35, from Hamburg, bled to death from a 10-centimeter-long cut on his right arm and a 15-centimeter cut to his right calf. “He was pronounced dead before arriving in a local hospital, due to excessive loss of blood,” Pol Lt Suthas Promaksorn said from the resort island. “It is likely that he was bitten by a shark,” Suthas said, though he added that no shark sightings had been reported in the area. German embassy officials were unable to provide further details of the case. Local residents said the man might have been bitten by a brindle bass rather than a shark, but fisheries experts said these fish had never been known to attack people. The brindle bass can weigh up to 100 kilos, but is thought to venture out of undersea caves very rarely.