Shark kills woman swimming off South Africa’s Eastern Cape

A 65-year-old woman was killed on Tuesday in a shark attack off South Africa’s southeastern coast, police and municipal authorities said, prompting the closure of two beaches.

Officers were called to Orient Beach in KuGompo city, formerly East London, at about 7am, where they found the woman’s body, Eastern Cape police spokeswoman Colonel Siphokazi Mawisa said. An inquest has been opened into the death.

“The Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality is deeply saddened to confirm that a fatal shark attack occurred at the Orient Beach this morning, resulting in the tragic loss of a swimmer,” municipal spokesman Luzuko Buku said in a statement.

Fellow swimmer Mike Loewe told state broadcaster SABC that members of an open-water swimming group responded to the woman’s distress signal and brought her ashore.