Shark ripped off diver's head in horrifying final moments as sea turns red
Diver Randy Fry met a horrifying end when he encountered a great white shark "the size of a pickup truck" that hit him in the throat, killing him instantly by tearing his head off. The water around him turned a gruesome shade of red following the horrific and rare attack.
In California, where the grisly incident occurred, Randy became one of only 10 people in recorded history to have been killed by sharks. Worldwide, it's estimated that an average of seven people are fatally attacked by sharks annually, with incidents reported from as far-ranging places as Australia to South Africa.
While each fatal shark encounter is undeniably traumatic, Randy's death in 2004 remains particularly shocking due to the extreme fright it inflicted, serving as a sobering reminder of the ocean's hidden perils, as noted by the Daily Star.
Known to his friends as Randy, Randall Fry was a passionate enthusiast of the sea, often occupying his leisure time with sport fishing or diving for abalones along the rugged Mendocino shoreline near his residence.
One fateful Sunday afternoon, alongside his pals Cliff Zimmerman and Red Bartley, Randy embarked on an abalone gathering expedition, setting anchor within the enclosed haven of Kibesillah Rock, located about 16 kilometers from Fort Bragg, where disaster would ensue, reports the Irish Star.
Randy and Cliff left the Dolphin - Cliff's 28ft vessel - to dive for abalone in shallow waters, about 15ft deep and merely 150ft from the shore. Cliff, who was only 3ft away from Randy at the time, told the horrifying story to the San Francisco Chronicle: "I heard a noise, like 'whoosh,' like a submarine, like a boat going by fast. It was a shark.
"I knew it was a shark. It almost brushed me. I saw its dorsal fin. I don't know what kind it was - all I know is, it was big. Big. It was big enough to kill."
As the shark attacked Randy, Cliff could do nothing but watch in horror as the waters turned an eerie shade of red. He likened the shark's size to his pickup truck, estimating it at 18ft.
He said: "It was massive. I was yelling and yelling, but I knew from the amount of blood that it was fatal. He came in for the kill."
Red, witnessing the gruesome event from on board a boat, swiftly pulled Cliff to safety and raised the alarm.
He said: "It was over in five seconds. I saw the pool of blood spread across the surface of the water and I knew Randy was gone."
Tragically, Randy's decapitated body was discovered the following day.
Reflecting on the harrowing incident, Cliff said: "It was the most dramatic thing I ever saw in my life. It's just not real. This monster came so fast, it happened so fast and was over so fast you think, 'How can this happen?'". I yelled, 'Randy!
Randy! ' I yelled, 'Holy s**t! Shark!'". It was terrible. I almost had a heart attack myself. It could have been me."
The nightmare didn't end there. Randy, a father of one, was killed on August 15, but it wasn't until three weeks later, on September 8, that his severed head was discovered by a beachcomber.
Randy's fate was tragically unlucky, considering fatal shark attacks are rare in the area.
Experts were "in no doubt whatsoever" that a great white shark was responsible for Randy's death. The deadly creature could have confused him with a seal.
Cliff revealed: "I never heard of a fatality on this coast. A nibble, maybe, a nip, but never nothing like this. Never a full-bore attack."
In a chilling turn of events, Cliff shared that his dear friend had eerily foreseen his fate at the jaws of a shark.
"Randy and I talked about it many times," he recalled. "He said, 'I think a shark will get me sometime.' ".
Tragically, his grim prediction became a reality in the most dreadful manner.
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