[imagesource: Twitter / @Naledi_Mailula]

Yesterday, the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) confirmed that a man who was bitten by a shark in Plettenberg Bay died from his injuries.

The attack occurred at Sanctuary Beach, on the Robberg side of Robberg 5, according to the NSRI statement, with eyewitness reports alerting rescue services.

NSRI rescue swimmers responded directly to the scene and two NSRI rescue craft were also launched:

On arrival on the scene the body of an adult male, believed to be a local man, was located and recovered from the water, at the back surf line, onto an NSRI rescue craft. The body was brought to the NSRI Plettenberg Bay rescue station…

Sadly injuries sustained are fatal and the man was declared deceased by the doctor.

The attack was reported to the NSRI at around 2:09PM. A minute later, reports TimesLIVE, a hiker captured footage of a shark near Sanctuary Beach:

Gunnar Sigge of Somerset West, who is holidaying in Plett, was on a hike in the Robberg Nature Reserve which overlooks the sea when he spotted what he believed to be a Great White shark in the waters below the hiking trail.

He captured the video at 14.10pm.

Here’s the video he recorded:

A Great White shark was spotted near the Sanctuary Beach in Plettenburg. A hiker captured this video at 14:10. According to the @NSRI, a deadly shark attack had taken place a minute earlier. Video supplied by Gunnar Sigge. @TimesLIVE pic.twitter.com/GTSfUGwcIV

— Naledi (@Naledi_Mailula) June 28, 2022

There is no clear evidence that this was the shark responsible, and it has not yet been confirmed that it was a great white shark which was involved in the fatal attack on the swimmer.

The NSRI in Plett did issue a warning last month after they spotted a 3,5-metre great white upstream from the Keurbooms River mouth, which included “a reminder that at this time of year sharks are known to feed inshore along the coastline and increased shark activity has been noticed along the Plettenberg Bay coastline”.

Following the attack yesterday, the NSRI and Bitou Municipality “are appealing to sea users – bathers, paddlers, sailors and boaters – in Plettenberg Bay and along the Southern Cape coastline to exercise caution following this fatal incident”.

[sources:nsri&timeslive]