NEW York man on vacation is attacked by a shark in the Bahamas, has leg amputated

MIAMI (AP) _ A New York man celebrating his wedding anniversary in the Bahamas had part of his left leg amputated after being attacked by a shark. <br><br>Krishna Thompson, a 36-year-old Wall Street banker,

Monday, August 6th 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

MIAMI (AP) _ A New York man celebrating his wedding anniversary in the Bahamas had part of his left leg amputated after being attacked by a shark.

Krishna Thompson, a 36-year-old Wall Street banker, was in critical condition at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami on Monday morning, said spokeswoman Victoria Zambrano.

``He was just swimming off the beach when something, a shark, grabbed his leg and started pulling him down,'' Ave Maria Thompson, Thompson's wife, told The Miami Herald for Monday editions. ``He kept punching and punching. He has cuts on his hands because of that.''

The Thompsons had been celebrating their 10th wedding anniversary during a vacation to Freeport, Grand Bahama. On Saturday, Krishna Thompson went alone into the water.

After struggling with the shark, Mrs. Thompson said her husband managed to free himself and swam to shore using only his right leg because the other was mangled.

Onlookers helped him to shore, where he collapsed. He wrote his room number into the sand before he passed out. Hotel officials then called Mrs. Thompson.

``He knew that was the only way they were going to find me in time,'' his wife said. ``He is so brave. To fight off a shark and then think to do that.''

Thompson was first taken to a Bahamian hospital, where he went into cardiac arrest and had to receive blood transfusions. He was transferred Saturday to Jackson's Ryder Trauma Center in Miami, where surgeons amputated his leg, just above the knee.

Mrs. Thompson said that though her husband seems alert, doctors told her there was a possibility of brain damage and other complications due to the loss of blood.