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VICTORIA: A shark savaged a British tourist as his newly-wed wife watched from the beach in the Seychelles, the second holidaymaker to die in such an attack this month, police said Wednesday.
The tourist was hauled onto a boat and taken to shore following the attack but died from blood loss after the shark ripped off his arm and tore into his leg, police said.
“Ian Redmond, a 30-year old British man, was on honeymoon with his wife when he was attacked by a shark while diving at Anse Lazio,” a police statement said. “The shark tore off his arm and bit a part of his left leg,” it added.
His wife was on the beach -- a famous beauty spot hailed for its white sand on the archipelago's Praslin island -- and watched helplessly as her husband was mauled by the shark.
“Two people who were on a boat not far from the attack tried to rescue him,” the statement added. “Ian Redmond did not survive his injuries because he had lost too much blood.”
The attack happened on Tuesday afternoon in the same area where a shark attacked and killed a 36-year-old French diver earlier this month.
The newly-wed couple were from Lancashire in northwest England.
The Seychelles Maritime Safety Authority issued a swimming ban at the Anse Lazio and Anse Georgette beaches, while surveillance patrols launched a hunt for the killer shark.
“Fishermen will be undertaking continuous patrols, research and fishing activities in order to capture the shark,” the maritime authority said in a statement.
It said it would also reinforce a ban of “dumping of waste from yachts and other boats, which have been reported in some of these areas,” which some fear could have attracted sharks.
Shark attacks are rare in Seychelles, with the last reported fatal attack before the recent killings in 1963, according to the government.
The 115-island Indian Ocean archipelago is a popular top-end tourist destination, with some villa accommodation costing as much as 10,000 euros per night.
Britain's Prince William and his bride Catherine celebrated their honeymoon in the archipelago in May.
British officials said they were comforting the distraught widow. “The British High Commissioner and the vice-consul flew out on Tuesday to support his wife,” a British High Commission spokeswoman said.
Britain's Foreign and Commonwealth Office updated travel warnings following the deadly attack, highlighting the swimming ban.
“You should avoid swimming at these designated locations until further notice,” the warning read.
Last year, 79 people were killed worldwide by sharks, the highest in a decade, representing a 25-per cent increase compared to 2009, according to researchers in Florida.
Thirty-six of them were killed in the United States, 14 in Australia, eight in South Africa and six each in Vietnam and Egypt, according to the figures released earlier this year.
