NZ swimmer recovers from stingray attack

(AAP) - A popular beach in New Zealand's South Island has been reopened after a suspected shark attack is now being put down to a run-in with a stingray.

Mike French was attacked off Kina Beach, about 70km from the city Nelson, on Saturday.
He was flown by helicopter to a hospital while police cleared beaches on Tasman Bay
and local radio stations warned people to stay out of the water.
The 47-year-old had waded about 100 metres off the beach shortly after 3pm local
time when he felt something hit him in the side.
The pain of the attack, on the scale of one to 10, was "on the 10", he told the
Nelson Mail.
French said he was by himself in the water and believed it had been a stingray attack.
The gash was straight and not jagged, which made him think it had been a stingray,
he said.
French was able to get out of the water by himself and a couple at the beach raised
the alarm.
He was to Nelson Hospital and is expected to be out of surgery about 8pm (6pm AEDT).
Sergeant Rob Crawford, of Motueka police, said an examination of French confirmed
that the injury was more likely to have come from a sting-ray than a shark.
Beaches were closed after the attack but have since reopened.
There have been three stingray attacks in recent months. Last month an 11-year-old
girl was attacked at Riversdale Beach, on the Wairarapa coast, and a man was
attacked at Marfels Beach, near Blenheim. In December, a 48-year-old woman was
attacked in Golden Bay.
Stingrays generally do not attack aggressively but will react if stepped on or
startled. They release a barbed stinger in their tail which can inflict serious
injuries or even be fatal.
Australian television personality and conservationist Steve Irwin was killed in a
stingray attack off the north Queensland coast in September 2006.