Locals believe it was a mistake to reopen the beach where an Australian man was fatally attacked by a shark barely a week after another horrific incident.
At approximately 4 p.m. on Sunday, the 59-year-old visitor was unexpectedly assaulted while swimming close to a popular pontoon 150 meters off the Chateau-Royal beach, south of Nouméa.
Witnesses were horrified to hear that the shark bit the guy on his arm and leg many times throughout the assault.
Sadly, the guy passed away at the site despite CPR being administered when a jet ski pulled his corpse back to land.
After another shark attack on January 29 that resulted in a 49-year-old local teacher losing her leg while swimming, the beach has just recently reopened.
A shark charged at a foil surfer five days before, but they were able to flee uninjured.
One member of the hotel staff expressed astonishment upon learning that the beaches had reopened after the incident last month.
That was so terrifying that we are all panicking. We’re all calling and messaging our relatives and friends to make sure they’re safe, said one of my coworkers who has a kid who was in the water at the time, according to Daily Mail Australia.
They should not have allowed the beach to reopen, I think. After another assault, it only recently opened. It’s quite risky.
Just a few meters separated the attack’s location from a jetty where beachgoers had been leaping off.
The jetty is next to a restaurant where patrons and workers often feed fish by throwing food into the sea, which draws sharks.
The incident was captured on shocking video, which seems to show splashing in the water close to the pontoon and within a few meters from other swimmers.
According to Daily Mail Australia, the guy was a solo Aussie traveler.
Unknown at this time, he had been residing at the neighboring Le Meridien Hotel.
One hotel visitor who saw the incident reported that as soon as the shark alarm went off, a jet-ski sped out to the sea.
The jet-ski operator then made his way back to the shore, where another member of the beach patrol team got on the back and they both helped rescue the man’s corpse.
The patrol crew laboriously gave CPR to the victim after returning his corpse to the sand until paramedics could arrive.
Sadly, there was no way to rescue the guy.
A visitor to the neighboring Hotel Chateau Royal observed, “It occurred so close to shore, the unfortunate man was face down in the sea when the jet-ski came to him.”
We could see blood from the shore because it was all over the place. They had just recently reopened the beach when so many people were swimming there at once.
After three shark attacks in the region in only three weeks, a second Chateau employee said that “something had to be done.” This statement put the community on high alert.
There was a lot of concern when it occurred since many of us had relatives on the beach and in the water, they said.
The beach was promptly closed and evacuated, and visitors were advised to stay to hotel pools.
One Château visitor reported seeing a throng forming around the victim after he was taken to the beach.
They said that “a lot of people were in the water at the time and it was fairly near to shore.”
Windsurfers and kitesurfers had traveled much further out to sea. Considering how beautiful the ocean is and how the locals plainly know to stay out, I was perplexed as to why the beach had been so empty earlier in the week.
“I wish someone had informed us,” said I. Today, we also had a snorkeling trip scheduled.
All of the bull sharks and tiger sharks in the vicinity will soon be killed, according to the authorities.
Five sharks were allegedly killed following the most recent incident on January 29.
Police boats are patrolling the ocean as the Château Royal beach has been cordoned off.
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