Woman Killed In Rare Shark Attack Off The Coast Of Caribbean Island

A woman was attacked and killed by a shark off the coast of the French Caribbean territory of Saint Martin on Thursday, leaving people shocked because such incidents were extremely rare in the region.

The victim, who was in her late 30s, was swimming in Orient Bay, a popular beach located in the northeastern part of the island, which St. Martin shares with St. Maarten in the Dutch Caribbean territory.

The victim was a French national who was vacationing in St. Martin, the Associated Press reported. The attack happened about 500 feet off the shore, and the woman died after her leg was torn off by the shark, the outlet reported.

Alain Rioual, a government spokesperson, told the Associated Press it was the island’s first fatal shark attack case to be reported in recent history. The woman’s death reportedly triggered a 48-hour government ban on swimming and water sports at all the beaches in the region.

Most shark attacks in the Caribbean have been reported in the Bahamas so far. Last year, a 21-year-old surfer, Jordan Lindsey, from California, was mauled to death by tiger sharks while snorkeling.

Tyler Bowling, manager of the Florida Program for Shark Research, told the Associated Press there has been only one unprovoked shark attack reported in St. Martin since 2005, which didn’t result in the death of the victim.

Overall, Bowling said as many as 34 unprovoked shark attacks have happened in the Caribbean region since 2000, four of which have been fatal.

The region where the attack took place is infested with Caribbean reef and nurse sharks, which are not considered dangerous unless provoked. However, Mike Heithaus, a shark researcher and dean of the College of Arts, Sciences & Education at Florida International University, said bull sharks and tiger sharks, touted as the most dangerous shark species in the world which are likely to attack humans, can also occasionally appear in St. Martin, Associated Press reported.