SAINT-DENIS DE LA REUNION: An attack by a shark has killed a surfer off France’s Indian Ocean island of Reunion, the latest fatality in increasingly dangerous waters, emergency services said on Thursday.
The surfer, a man aged 28, lost a leg in the attack and was pronounced dead on being brought back to the port of Saint-Leu in the west of the island, emergency services told AFP.
The “surfer was accompanied by three friends who tried to take him back to land but did not manage,” said Olivier Tainturier, a senior local official in the nearby town of Saint-Paul.
A sharp increase in shark attacks on Reunion since 2011 has been dubbed locally the “shark crisis” and prompted authorities to step up alert systems.
It is the 24th shark attack recorded since 2011 on the island, which is French territory, and the 11th one to result in a fatality. As after previous attacks, operations have started to catch sharks in the waters of the incident.
Before the latest attack, the local authorities had urged the “greatest vigilance” among beach users as more people flock to the coast at a season when there are high numbers of the highly aggressive bull shark.
Shark attack kills surfer off France’s Reunion
Shark attack kills surfer off France’s Reunion
- The surfer, a man aged 28, lost a leg in the attack and was pronounced dead on being brought back to the port of Saint-Leu
- It is the 24th shark attack recorded since 2011 on the island, which is French territory, and the 11th one to result in a fatality
New Zealand authorities working to identify landslide victims
- Police Superintendent Tim Anderson said it could take several days to locate all of the bodies
- The six missing people, presumed dead, included one foreign national, Mans Loke Bernhardsson from Sweden
SYDNEY: New Zealand authorities said on Saturday they were working to identify victims of a landslide that hit a busy campground on the country’s North Island, after human remains were found overnight.
Six people, including two teenagers, were presumed dead after heavy rains triggered Thursday’s landslide at Mount Maunganui on the island’s east coast, bringing down soil and rubble at the site in the city of Tauranga, crowded with families on summer holidays.
Rescue efforts have ceased and a recovery operation is under way, police said, adding that it was unlikely any of those missing were still alive. No signs of life have been detected from the rubble since voices were heard by first responders on Thursday, according to police.
Chief Coroner Anna Tutton said her office was now working to identify victims.
“I can’t say how long the identification process will take — but I give my absolute assurance that we will work very carefully,” Tutton said in a statement.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said it was “devastating to receive the news we have all been dreading.”
“To the families who have lost loved ones — every New Zealander is grieving with you,” Luxon posted on X.
The prime minister visited the site on Friday and met with families of the victims.
Thirty-five crew, assisted by heavy machinery, were removing debris on Saturday after a partial slip in a section of the search area on Friday evening, Fire and Emergency New Zealand said.
Heavy rain forecast for the area on Saturday could present further challenges, and the work crew might have to withdraw from the search area for their safety, Fire and Emergency official Megan Stiffler said in a statement.
The heavy rain this week unleashed another landslide in the neighboring suburb of Papamoa, killing two.
