Very Sad

It's strange how seemingly innocuous details can make a story poignant.

A 19-year-old surfer who died after getting bitten by a shark today off the Santa Barbara coast likely was attacked by the feared great white shark, an expert told AOL News.

Lucas Ransom, a junior at the University of California, Santa Barbara, was attacked shortly before 9 a.m. PDT. Three beaches in Santa Barbara County were closed immediately after the attack. KEYT-TV reported that the shark bit off the surfer's leg and he bled to death. 

As reported in The Australian, what I presume were his last words were said to his friend, who was with him: 

“It was very stealth,” Ransom's friend Matthew Garcia, who was on a surfboard several metres away, told the Los Angeles Times. “You would have never known there was a shark in the water. It was all really quick.”

He said Mr Ransom looked over and said “Help me dude,” before being dragged under.

I don't know why I found that last detail particularly moving, but I did.