65-year-old woman dies after shark attack at Orient Beach

A 65-year-old woman has died after she was attacked by a shark while swimming at Orient Beach in South Africa's Eastern Cape. She was in the water with a small group during a morning swim when the attack happened. Nearby beaches were closed and the public was urged to stay out of the water.

Witness Mike Lowe, a journalist who was swimming nearby, said the scene was traumatic and that other swimmers went to help. He said the woman had a very large laceration on her right thigh and later on her right arm. The group was estimated to be 100 to 250 metres offshore. Lowe said he and another swimmer cradled her and tried to get her back to safety. Her son, Deaf Olympian Mark Roach, swam out and helped bring her onto the beach, where another swimmer who was an advanced paramedic began resuscitation. They could not find a pulse.

Lowe said it was clear the woman had lost a lot of blood. He described her as a wonderful, brave and courageous woman and a talented open water swimmer. He said she was a musician and a nuclear radiologist at a local state hospital, and that those who knew her were grieving. He also said the shark did not come back after the bite. He suggested the injury pattern was consistent with a great white, but said there was no official statement on the species.

He said the woman had been wearing a shark band on her ankle and that it did nothing. He said the group would return to using stronger shark pods and would take a break from swimming while they waited to see that the shark had gone. The attack has also drawn attention to reports of great white sharks moving from the Western Cape to waters near Cintsa, with one theory being that orcas had displaced them. Lowe said swimmers respect that the sea is the shark's environment and that they are visitors.