A 24 year-old bodyboarder* is in a critical condition at a Reunion Island hospital after being attacked by a shark roughly 20 metres from shore.
The shark severed the right leg of the victim above the knee, and local authorities have stated that the attack occurred outside of the protected perimeter that has been set-up following a spate of recent deaths. All surfing and bathing has been banned on the island except for within certain zones of the protected inshore lagoons.
This attack was the twelfth shark attack in Reunion since 2011, of which four have been fatal. The last fatal attack took place less than five metres from shore.
* There are some reports stating that the victim was in fact bodysurfing only 15m from shore, and not bodyboarding as according to most early reports – Ed
It’s not a bodyboarder but a swimmer. He was doing bodysurfing, 15 meters from the shore on a popular beach.