Is this the shark found with Briton’s hand in its stomach?
Hand of missing Briton found in shark’s stomach
A BRITISH tourist whose hand was found in a shark’s stomach was last seen snorkelling off one of a paradise island’s safest beaches, it emerged last night.
Details of the man’s final minutes were made public as his death was confirmed by judicial sources on the French overseas territory of Reunion Island.
The 44-year- old from Scotland was reported missing by his wife on the Indian Ocean island on Saturday.
Four days later, his hand was found in the stomach of a tiger shark, still wearing his wedding ring. He has yet to be publicly named, following his family’s request for privacy.
The 10ft tiger shark was killed with four others about four miles from Hermitage Beach earlier this week. Local media published a picture of one of the five – but it remains unclear whether it depicts the shark which swallowed the hand.
‘The man undoubtedly thought he was safe,’ said a source on the island. ‘ He went off to snorkel around the Hermitage coral reef, where the water is warm and very shallow. It may be that waves pushed the man beyond the reef into open sea, or that the shark swam into the lagoon.’
Local resident Erick Quelquejeu said the man had left his wife for ‘a few minutes’ to go for a swim. ‘It’s an area enclosed by a reef, there’s a very slight passage where it goes deeper into the ocean but actually it’s really well protected by the reef,’ he told the
BBC. ‘His wife was really scared by what happened. Many helicopters, many planes, swimmers and boats went to try and find the guy in the ocean but couldn’t find him for a few days.’
Hermitage Beach, close to the town of Saint-Paul, is one of the most popular tourist attractions on Reunion, which is 500 miles east of Madagascar.
Hermitage is protected by the coral reef, ensuring relatively calm water no more than 7ft at its deepest. Numerous other beaches and coves on Reunion have been closed to swimmers, surfers and snorkellers because of the threat of sharks. Tiger sharks have a record second only to great whites for attacks on humans, but it may be that the man drowned and his body attracted the fish.
In May, a 28-year-old surfer had his leg ripped off by a shark off Reunion, and his body was found floating in the port of Saint-Leu. It was the 11th fatal shark attack reported on Reunion since 2011.
A police source on Reunion said the man had been described by his family as a ‘strong swimmer’. His wife ‘did not see him going out of the sea after he went off for his swim,’ the source added.
Reunion is one of the world’s black spots for shark attacks, leading to the local authorities constantly launching campaigns to try to deal with the problems.
Officials are also accused of playing down the danger to protect the tourism industry.