A 65-year-old woman has died in a shark attack on South Africa's southeastern coast JOHANNEBURG -- A 65-year-old woman was killed on Tuesday in a shark attack off South Africa ’s southeastern coast, police and municipal authorities said, prompting the closure of two beaches. Officers were called to Orient Beach in KuGompo city, formerly East London, at about 7 a.m., where they found the woman’s body, Eastern Cape police spokesperson Col. Siphokazi Mawisa told The .
An inquest has been opened into the death. Fellow swimmer Mike Loewe told state broadcaster SABC that members of an open-water swimming group responded to the woman’s distress signal and brought her ashore. A medic in the group tried to save her, but she was declared dead at the scene, he said.
The municipality has closed the Orient and nearby Eastern beaches until further notice. It also issued warnings for all other local beaches and urged beachgoers to follow safety advisories and instructions from authorities. South Africa is known for its great white sharks and shark tourism, but shark attacks are rare.
The Florida Museum of Natural History’s International Shark Attack File recorded 29 unprovoked bites in the country between 2012 and 2021, an average of about three a year. AP Africa news: https://apnews.com/hub/africa 24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events
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