OSHIMA, JAPAN -- -- Kazuto Harada's last words came crackling over the walkie-talkie from the sea floor with a ring of sheer terror that still resonates in this frightened fishing village.

"Somebody help me!" Harada shouted through the microphone in his diving helmet. "Shark! Shark!"

In the little fishing boat floating on the water's surface 30 feet above his head, Harada's crew began frantically pulling in his lifeline. But the only thing that reached the surface was Harada's orange and gray diving suit, with an enormous jagged hole in the right side where the body had been yanked out.