A member of America’s wealthy Rockefeller family was attacked by a shark while swimming in waist-deep waters off Laucala Island.
According to an article published by this newspaper on March 27, 1990, Ostillman Rockefeller, 30, was holidaying with the late American billionaire Malcolm Forbes on the island when he was attacked.
Sources said he arrived on the island and immediately went for a swim after checking in at his bungalow, several metres off the main beach facing Matagi Island.
He had gone alone and was bitten twice on the right leg, but he managed to swim ashore and crawled from the beach to his bungalow, where he telephoned the main office and raised the alarm.
Workers on the island rushed to the bungalow and attended to him before a nurse attached to the Qamea Health Centre was brought in.
The island manager then called the manager of the Garden Island Resort at Taveuni, also an American, by telephone, asking him to contact a doctor.
Dr Viliame Taoi of Waiyevo Hospital attended to Mr Rockefeller.
Dr Taoi took a car to Navakacoa Village in the north of Taveuni, where he was picked up by a launch from Laucala.
He said Mr Rockefeller was in a stable condition “but seemed to have lost some blood”.
He was put on drips and antibiotics and was closely observed by Dr Taoi in his bungalow.
Mr Rockefeller was later transferred to the Lautoka Hospital at first light on Mr Forbes’ private plane.
Dr Taoi said Mr Rockefeller’s right Achilles tendon was lacerated and required stitches.
“Our switchboard has been flooded with telephone calls from abroad, mostly from the United States,” stated Lautoka Hospital’s Medical Superintendent Dr Serupepeli Goneyali.
“There has been a lot of concern about his condition. I have been informed that a special aircraft with a team of specialists will be arriving at Nadi to fly him to New York, where he will be examined.”
He said Mr Rockefeller’s right leg was heavily plastered around the ankle, and his condition satisfactory.
Speaking to this newspaper from his Lautoka Hospital bed, Mr Rockefeller said he was swimming about 30 metres offshore from the Forbes’ Laucala Resort when he felt his right leg being pulled.
He looked up to see his leg totally lacerated, and he panicked.
He swam to shore and dragged himself up about 300 metres or so to the resort, where he was noticed by other guests.
His father was American businessman James Rockefeller, and his grandfather, James Rockefeller Senior, was the chairman of the City Bank in the US.
Mr Rockefeller, who was not married, hoped to return to Fiji.
“I have not been discouraged by the experience,” he shared.
He returned to New York on a Qantas flight, accompanied by an Australian medical team.
