(Daily Herald) MARIGOT–A French tourist on vacation has died from a suspected shark attack in Orient Bay on Thursday afternoon, but confirmation that this was a shark attack will not be definitively established until the results of an autopsy, due to be carried out today, are obtained, authorities stressed.
Sous-Préfet and Secretary-General at the Préfecture Mickaël Dore convened a press conference Thursday evening to relay the facts, as they are presently known, to the media. The female victim (38) was swimming alone as far as 100 metres offshore when the attack happened. She had had lunch at a restaurant with a friend and then went swimming. A companion who was also swimming with her had returned to the shore first.
Persons on the beach heard several cries for help from the victim. Two employees of a water-sports operator went out with a boat to retrieve the victim. According to the Sous-Préfet one of the two employees spotted a shark in the water. The body was brought back to the beach where the pompiers from the Fire Department and Gendarmes were waiting to transport the body immediately to the morgue. It was understood the victim had died in the water.
