A short trip to the sea turns into a nightmare for a South African family. In the shallows off Plettenberg Bay, a great white shark attacks and kills a woman. It’s not the first case this year.
After a bloody shark attack at Plettenberg Bay in South Africa, the beaches in the popular holiday region remain closed. A 39-year-old woman was killed by a great white shark in the tourist town about 300 kilometers from Cape Town on Sunday morning. It was the second death in the area this year and the third such attack in the past 11 years, local media reported.
According to a report by the “Sun”, a great white shark is said to have swum towards its victim by means of a wave from the deeper water, bit the woman and then dived. An eyewitness told the newspaper: “I heard screams, suddenly everyone ran out of the water.” Rescuers quickly moved out, but any help came too late. The woman’s body was found floating in the water about 50 meters from the beach by a sea rescue ship and brought to the beach. The woman’s partner and her little daughter were unharmed and received psychological care. The family were from Cape Town and were at Plettenberg Bay for a weekend holiday, the reports said.
Authorities have been warning of an increased occurrence of sharks in the region for weeks. Earlier this month, authorities identified a dead humpback whale that the sharks were feeding on. In early May, local authorities approved the construction of a shark barrier at the site, the Sunday Times reported.
On all beaches in South Africa, swimmers and surfers are currently warned of the deadly danger with warning signs, and there are even shark watchers on surfer beaches who hoist different-colored flags. Depending on whether sharks are sighted. Great White Sharks don’t attack people to eat them. They often bite, for example to find out what is swimming in the sea. For divers or swimmers, however, such a test bite can be fatal.
