A South African woman has been killed in a shark attack off the country’s east coast, in what is the first recorded such fatality this year.
Janine Lochrenberg was swimming off a beach in KuGompo City (formerly East London) on Tuesday morning when she was attacked.
Witnesses said the 65-year-old was bitten in two places and died before she was brought to shore.
Shark attacks are rare in South Africa, with about 10 fatal ones since 2012, according to the Florida Museum’s International Shark Attack File.
Lochrenberg was out on a daily morning swim with her local open water swimming club when she was attacked at around 08:00 (06:00 GMT). Fellow swimmers brought her to shore, but it’s believed she died before they could get her out of the water.
She was bitten on her thigh and her upper arm, one of her fellow swimmers told the BBC. They also said she was wearing a magnetic shark-repellent band on her ankle at the time.
Lochrenberg’s sister Margot said she was holding her sister’s head as they brought her to shore but believed she bled out in the water.
She told the BBC that her sister had “loved the water so much” despite knowing there was an “elevated shark presence in East London”.
“She’d made peace with that. She had a deep affinity with the water and was a remarkable person,” she said.
Barbara Briceland, Lochrenberg’s partner, told the BBC the retired medical physicist was a good swimmer, who often swam far out into the breakers, and described her as very brave.
“She was highly intelligent, lots of fun, kind, in a quietish way, thoughtful, well-loved with a love of life.”
Briceland added they were looking forward to retirement and were about to leave for a three-week road trip together.
Orient Beach, where the attack took place, has been closed alongside another nearby beach, authorities confirmed.