A 15-year-old girl has died after a shark tore her in two while she was swimming off a beach on the French island of Reunion.
The victim is understood to have been just three to five metres from the shore at the bay of Saint-Paul, northwest of the island, when she was attacked at around 2.30pm local time.
"Part of her body was carried away by the shark," said Gina Hoarau, director of public safety in Saint-Paul.
"The conditions of the attack are surprising. You wouldn't think that a shark would get this close to the shore," she added.
The teenager, who lives in mainland France with her mother, was on holiday visiting her father who works at a yacht club in the area.
She was snorkelling in an unsupervised area where bathing is forbidden due to high shark numbers, officials said.
A friend who was with her at the time of the attack managed swim back to shore and emergency services including lifeguards, firefighters and a police helicopter were called to the scene.
It is the second deadly shark attack this year off the French island, situated east of Madagascar, and brings the total of shark-related deaths there since 2011 to five.
But it is the first time in at least three decades that a swimmer, rather than a surfer, was the victim.
Local authorities this month renewed safety warnings after an increase in shark numbers.
A mayor and French politician, Thierry Robert, last year described a marine reserve near the bay of Saint-Paul set up six years ago to safeguard coral reefs as "a shark's larder".
There has been little shark fishing off the island since 2009 because of a toxin currently found in their flesh that causes food poisoning.
Locals claim tiger and bull shark populations have multiplied as a result.
In May, a 36-year-old French man on his honeymoon was killed off the popular beach of Brisants de Saint-Gilles on the west of the island while surfing.
A spate of shark attacks last year off Reunion Island prompted France to hire a team of professional fishermen to kill around 20 of them but Paris has refused to mount a more widespread cull.
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Very sad.
Dude George did you hit the wrong Like/Share button?
Don
The meaning of the "like" button is a bit vague. Sometimes you appreciate a post and want to say thanks, in other forums a "thanks" button is available, we don't have it so the like button is used both ways. In a situation like this it can be misconstrued as inappropriate.
Very sad indeed both for the girl and her family but also for the sharks. Killing sharks to reduce attacks is barbaric and stupid. Sharks are dangerous but there is no need to vilify them to point where we need to kill them off, they get enough of that from the shark finning Industry.
I disagree, man eating sharks species are the enemy, and I think culling is necessary. But it would be better if the meat would not go to waste.
Very sad indeed.
It is interesting that there seems to be a high shark population there. 5 deaths since 2011 is a high number given that there are about 10 reported fatal shark attacks worldwide per year.
disagee completely with Dan, humans are the biggest enemy, maybe that's where eradication should start.
Then you must be pleased the eradication started with that girl.
Just depends on where you place value... a lot of people put heightened value on human life. Killing sharks there might have been the good thing to do for business (tourism) or to make the family feel better. The thing to take away IMO is don't swim off reunion island
What would you say if it happened in Fort Lauderdale or Hollywood?
What would you say if it happened in Fort Lauderdale or Hollywood?
Unless it was my spouse or offspring, I wouldn't consider going out and killing sharks as an answer. And if it was my spouse or child I'd do it myself.
Also south Florida's a different scenario cause we don't have a lot of sharks to begin with so someone getting killed right off the beach would be a fluke IMO, unlike this place where apparently big tigers are the norm... People should heed warnings
If I am attacked by a shark for being stupid and not heeding the warnings then I have no one to blame but myself.
I feel for this girl because her parents should have never let her swim there in the first place. At 12-14 I would not have necessarily had the correct judgment.
A french buddy told me about this yesterday. So sad indeed.
Edit: I just read a new article that she was swimming in a restricted known shark area. Thats sad and a terrible mistake her parents have to live with if they let her.
It's also interesting to note the sharks there were hunted for food until the late 2000's when they all started having ciguatera.
I disagree, man eating sharks species are the enemy, and I think culling is necessary. But it would be better if the meat would not go to waste.
:agree1: if you live in a high risk area for a sharknado to develop.
Dude George did you hit the wrong Like/Share button?
Don
Hey Don, I was showing appreciation to Virgili for making us aware of the terrible incident BUT most importantly showing my support for the poster he posted alongside of or with it showing the almost infinitesimal % of annual deaths caused by these wonderful animals whom I love and respect... Guess its hard to convey that with a like.
Sharks have not evolved in over 60 million years, have reached an evolutionary apex... Hard thing to do on this turbulent plant, I personally am in awe...
My first direct attack incident on my person was spearfishing at 14-15 with a small Lemon off of a drop off free diving in my home Island of Grenada. From then I had a love hate relationship and a lot of misguided fear, until one day a friend showed me some incite into the sharks way of thinking while I was pinned to a wreck by three hunching circling bulls. He charged them and they scattered and I got to go home...lol...I swear a light bulb went off in my head that day... Since then I have fended off big tigers and a few small Makos and a lot of black tips.
My take is that if you choose to be in an alien environment where you are the guest you don't get to randomly destroy natures balance in that place because of your ignorance(lack on knowledge not to be confused with stupidity) irrational fear and sense of entitlement. We are all on the same plant as the other animals no more no less...well actually a whole lot less as we seem determined to destroy every other living thing on the planet that's not human and hell we even destroy humans we dont like in the millions when the mood strikes us.
If my daughter dies in a car accident I don't go out and cull the cars! Now thats the time for the other meaning to ignorance.
I am a spearfisherman and I like sharks deal with it 
It wouldn't be the first nor the last species to be displaced by a competing species in the natural world. As far as sharks that are dangerous to man and their place in the ecosystem, I'm confident something will rise to the occasion and assume their role, with no great detriment to natural scheme of things. I don't have an irrational fear of sharks, and have had a clear idea of what they're about for a long time.
Dan over and over in the natural world your opinion about something taking the place of an unnaturally displaced apex predator has been proven wrong. Took away wolves about 40 years ago and no predator took its place, diseased deer ran amok and infested human livestock and it actually affected the deer negatively(province in Canada)... Many many other examples. Dont have anything else to say as it is just my personal feeling and my opinion but humans messing with the natural order has never turned out well.. prairie dogs are another great story of us messing with what we thought was a simple problem. Arrogance of assumption is usually a recipe for disaster.
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