South Africa: woman killed by shark

A woman died Tuesday (October 20) after being attacked by a shark while swimming at a busy beach on South Africa's southeast coast, witnesses and authorities said. The attack occurred on Orient Beach in one of the country's largest cities, Kugompo (formerly East London), where the municipality closed surrounding beaches until further notice, and urged the public not to swim.

Police said they were called to the scene around 7 a.m., where they discovered the body of a 65-year-old woman with "open wounds." Shark attacks remain rare, but are not unprecedented in South Africa. According to the University of Florida's International Shark Attack File, of the nine fatal attacks worldwide in 2025 (out of 65 in total), one of them occurred in South Africa.

Local media reported Tuesday that the victim, a regular at this beach, was swimming with a group at the time of the attack. A local association said other swimmers had seen a shark's tail and fin. “The victim suffered serious injuries to the arm and leg on the right side,” the association said in a message published on Facebook.

The researchers say these encounters can be influenced by a variety of factors, including population increases in coastal areas, environmental changes, and changes in the distribution of sharks and their prey.