REUNION ISLAND (FRANCE)- A man 36-year-old French was attacked and killed by a shark while surfing near a beach on the tropical French island of Reunion. He was on the island celebrating his honeymoon. His wife was sunbathing nearby on the beach.
The man was in the sea just off the popular beach of Brisants de Saint-Gilles on the west of the island when a shark charged at him twice, prompting a nearby swimmer to raise the alarm when he saw blood on the water, the local prefecture said.
Bloodloss
Lifeguards jumped in the water to fetch the victim, who had lost a lot of blood and was in cardiac and respiratory arrest. They brought him back to the beach but were unable to revive him.
Shock
The shark had bitten the surfer on the arm and on the thigh. His wife was on the beach when the attack happened and is being treated for shock, the authorities said.
According to reports in the French media, the couple are from Morteau in eastern France. What type of shark it was, has not been made known.
Shark attacks
The deadly shark attack was the first this year on the French island, where three people have been killed by sharks in the past two years.
The attacks last year prompted surfers on the island to call for a marine nature reserve on that area of the island to be closed, which they blame for an increase in shark attacks since 2011.
Read more at Sky News.