Latest news with #SouthPadreIsland
The Sun
06-07-2025
- Health
- The Sun
Woman speaks out after having calf torn off & ‘bone exposed' in Fourth of July shark attack that injured heroic husband
A WOMAN gives an update a year after surviving a brutal heart attack that left her calf torn off during a Fourth of July celebration. Tabatha Sullivent was one of four people injured in a shark attack on South Padre Island off the southern coast of Texas when something approached her. 4 4 "All I saw was something gray in the water, so I just kicked at it because I thought 'Oh my God, it's a huge fish,'" she told Valley Central. On July 4, 2024, Sullivent was on a trip with family and friends celebrating a birthday, a graduation, an engagement, and an anniversary. However, a simple trip to the beach nearly turned into tragedy after Sullivent was injured in a shark attack. Sullivent kicked at the shark when it suddenly attacked and bit off a majority of her left calf. Cellphone footage showed Sullivent bleeding heavily after she was pulled from the water with her left calf missing. She was rushed to a hospital but had to be flown to another facility due to the extent of her injuries. But the journey had only just begun as Sullivent faced several procedures, fought an infection, and underwent a skin graft. Last August, she shared an update on social media, revealing how it was taking one of her first steps since the attack "What I lost isn't coming back, and I think that's the hardest part for me right now. Is…just knowing my leg isn't gonna…doesn't grow back," she wrote. Sullivent told the outlet that she spent a month recovering in McAllen, Texas, before being transferred to her home near Dallas. "I had a bone exposed that I had to get another skin graft done on that one, so I did that one at Baylor in Dallas," she said. Sullivent's goal was to walk at her daughter's wedding, just four months after the attack. "I walked down the aisle, and I was dancing unassisted, so it was amazing it was great," she said. Sullivent's husband was also injured in the attack after he tried to rescue his wife. Now, the couple is going on vacation again, but they're steering clear of the beach. "Get a nice little tan going, and stay off the beach and out of the water, we do have the pool so that we can do that," Sullivent explained. Her whole family has gone to counseling since the attack, and Sullivent has begun seeing a therapist on her own. She is working through her trauma to hopefully get back to some of her favorite hobbies. "I want to go on the boat, I want to go snorkeling, I want to get in the water. I notice now if I see snorkeling adventures or deeper water, I'm not sure I could get in it," she said. "I think it would be really hard for me. And I would probably just panic and not know what was around me." However, the journey isn't over, as Sullivent explained she will have to undergo another plastic surgery soon and is experiencing nerve pain. She plans on getting cosmetic surgery on her leg for aesthetic purposes and to better protect her nearly exposed bone. Still, Sullivent said she's doing her best to remember the things she can do. 4
Free Malaysia Today
28-05-2025
- Business
- Free Malaysia Today
Starship megarocket blows up over Indian Ocean in latest bumpy test
SpaceX's prototype Starship is designed to eventually be fully reusable. (AP pic) SOUTH PADRE ISLAND : SpaceX's prototype Starship exploded over the Indian Ocean yesterday, capping another bumpy test flight for the rocket central to billionaire Elon Musk's dream of colonising Mars. The biggest and most powerful launch vehicle ever built lifted off around 6.36pm from the company's Starbase facility, near a southern Texas village that earlier this month voted to become a city – also named Starbase. Excitement ran high among SpaceX engineers and spectators alike, after the last two outings ended with the upper stage disintegrating in fiery cascades over the Caribbean. But signs of trouble emerged quickly: the first-stage Super Heavy booster blew up instead of executing its planned splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico. A live feed then showed the upper-stage spaceship failing to open its doors to deploy a payload of Starlink satellite 'simulators'. Though the ship flew farther than on its two previous attempts, it sprang leaks and began spinning out of control as it coasted through space. Mission teams vented fuel to reduce the force of the expected explosion, and onboard cameras cut out roughly 45 minutes into what was meant to be a 66-minute flight – falling short of its target splashdown zone off Australia's west coast. 'Starship experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly,' SpaceX posted on X – a familiar euphemism for fiery failure – while stressing it would learn from the setback. Musk, meanwhile, vowed to pick up the pace: 'Launch cadence for the next 3 flights will be faster – approximately one every three to four weeks,' he said. He did not say, however, whether he still planned to deliver a live stream about Mars that SpaceX had been promoting. Standing 123m tall, the black-and-white behemoth is designed to eventually be fully reusable and launch at low cost, carrying Musk's hopes of making humanity a multi-planetary species. Nasa is also counting on a variant of Starship to serve as the crew lander for Artemis 3, the mission to return Americans to the moon. Ahead of the launch, dozens of space fans gathered at Isla Blanca Park on nearby South Padre Island, hoping to catch a glimpse of history. Several small tourist boats also dotted the lagoon, while a live feed showed Musk sitting at ground control in Starbase, wearing an 'Occupy Mars' T-shirt. Australian Piers Dawson, 50, told AFP he's 'obsessed' with the rocket and built his family vacation around the launch – his first trip to the US, with his wife and teenage son whom he took out of school to be there. 'I know in science there's never a failure, you learn everything from every single test so that was still super exciting to see,' said Joshua Wingate, a 33-year-old tech entrepreneur from Austin, after the launch. Starship has now completed nine integrated test flights atop its Super Heavy booster. SpaceX is betting that its 'fail fast, learn fast' ethos, which helped it dominate commercial spaceflight, will once again pay off. One bright spot: the company has now caught the Super Heavy booster in the launch tower's giant robotic arms three times – a daring engineering feat it sees as key to rapid reusability and slashing costs. This ninth flight marked the first time SpaceX reused a Super Heavy booster, though it opted not to attempt a catch – instead pushing the envelope with a steeper descent angle and one engine intentionally disabled. The FAA recently approved an increase in Starship launches from five to 25 annually, stating the expanded schedule wouldn't harm the environment – a decision that overruled objections from conservation groups concerned about impacts to sea turtles and shorebirds.
