Piranhas attack swimmers in Brazil

Fifteen swimmers have been bitten after thousands of flesh-eating piranhas invaded a tourist beach in Brazil, according to a news report on Yahooo7.

It is the first time the ferocious fish have been seen at Daveron beach in Caceres.

The beach will remain open, but authorities have erected large signs warning of the danger. The large signs say: "Attention swimmers: Area at risk of piranha attacks. Danger!"

One of the swimmers, Elson de Campos Pinto, 22, lost the tip of his toe.
"I took a dip in the river and when I stood up, I felt pain in my foot," he said. "I saw that I had lost the tip of my toe. I took off running out of the river, afraid that I would be further attacked because of the blood. I'm not going back in for a long time."

Firefighter Raul Castro de Oliveira told local television Globo TV's G1 website: "People have got to be very careful. If they're bitten, they've got to get out of the water rapidly and not allow the blood to spread."

Local fisherman Hildegard Galeno Alves said he there was often a lot of blood on the river banks.

"I would never even think of going in there," he said.

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