Woman Killed in Shark Attack Off Mexico

26-year-old was swimming with her daughter in Melaque
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Dec 4, 2023 9:40 AM CST
Woman Killed in Shark Attack Off Mexico
A great white shark near Guadalupe Island, off the coast of Mexico.   (AP Photo/Discovery Channel, Andrew Brandy Casagrande)

A Mexican woman died after she was severely bitten in the leg by a shark in the Pacific Ocean off the beach town of Melaque, authorities said Sunday. Rafael Araiza, the head of the local civil defense office, said the attack occurred Saturday a short distance from the beach in Melaque, just west of the seaport of Manzanillo. The town is in the western state of Jalisco, reports the AP, and is located next to the better-known beach town of Barra de Navidad. Araiza said the woman, 26, was swimming with her 5-year-old daughter toward a floating play platform about 75 feet from the shore. The victim was trying to boost her child aboard the floating platform when the shark bit her. The daughter wasn't harmed.

Araiza said that despite a quick response by rescuers, the woman died of blood loss from the massive bite wound on her leg near the hip. She was a resident of a nearby town. Authorities closed the beaches in Melaque and Barra de Navidad to swimming as a precaution. Shark attacks are relatively rare in Mexico. In 2019, a US diver survived a shark bite on the forearm in Magdalena Bay off the Baja California Sur coast.

(More shark attack stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X