Surfer in banned area killed by shark off Reunion Island
A 28-year-old man surfing in an area of Reunion Island where surfing is prohibited was killed by a shark Thursday afternoon in what was the 24th shark attack and 11th mortality on the French Island since 2011.
The death came on the same day authorities issued a call to “the greatest vigilance” in a warning about the presence of bull sharks with changing water temperatures, according to BRMTV.
“Reunion is entering a transitional period between the summer and the austral winter, with southern swell fronts sought by water sports enthusiasts, and the use of the Reunionese coast by bulldog sharks, potentially dangerous, is more important as one enters the austral winter with a seasonal cooling of the temperature of the sea water,” warned the services of the State in a translated statement on BRMTV.
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The man was surfing with three friends off the small fishing town of Saint-Leu where surfing is restricted because of the rising threat of shark attacks in recent years, according to the Mirror.
The friends were wearing shark-repelling devices on their ankles but the unidentified victim was not, the Mirror reported.
The shark bit off the victim’s leg. Efforts to save him by his friends proved futile. Authorities later recovered the body.
“We will never reach zero risk,” Olivier Tainturier, sub-prefect of Saint-Paul, said in a press conference, according to the local news outlet Clicanoo. “The shark has always been present.
“Currently we are deploying significant resources to ward off this risk [such as shark technology and prohibiting fishing]. But nature is often the strongest, that’s what the drama of today reminds us.”
The last deadly shark attack on Reunion Island was on a fisherman on January 30 in Sainte-Rose. The sharp increase in shark attacks on Reunion Island since 2011 prompted locals to call it a “shark crisis,” France 24 reported.
Photo showing French firefighters responding to the shark attack by Richard Bouhet/AFP/Getty Images. Photos taken March 1 showing signs warning of sharks and banning swimming at L’Etang-Sale on Reunion Island by Richard Bouhet/AFP/Getty Images.