What happened at Orient Beach
A South African woman was killed by a shark on Tuesday morning off the country's east coast, according to the BBC. Janine Lochrenberg, 65, was swimming off Orient Beach in KuGompo City, the city formerly known as East London, when she was attacked at around 08:00 local time (06:00 GMT).
Lochrenberg was on a daily morning swim with her local open water swimming club. Witnesses said she was bitten in two places. A fellow swimmer told the BBC the bites were to her thigh and her upper arm.
Other swimmers brought her to shore, but it is believed she died before she could be taken out of the water. The same swimmer said she had been wearing a magnetic shark repellent band on her ankle at the time.
Family and partner remember her
Lochrenberg's sister, Margot, told the BBC she was holding her sister's head as the group brought her in. She said she believed Lochrenberg bled out in the water.
Margot said her sister had "loved the water so much" even though she knew there was an "elevated shark presence in East London". She added: "She'd made peace with that. She had a deep affinity with the water and was a remarkable person."
Barbara Briceland, Lochrenberg's partner, told the BBC that Lochrenberg was a retired medical physicist and a good swimmer who often swam far out into the breakers. Briceland described her as very brave and said she was "highly intelligent, lots of fun, kind, in a quietish way, thoughtful, well-loved with a love of life."
Briceland said the couple had been looking forward to retirement and were about to leave on a three-week road trip together.
Beaches closed after the attack
Authorities confirmed that Orient Beach, where the attack took place, has been closed along with another nearby beach. The source material does not say when either beach is expected to reopen.
Coverage of the incident by ABC News, CBS News, Bloomberg and USA Today also reported that beaches in the area were shut following the fatal attack.
How rare are fatal attacks in South Africa?
The BBC described the attack as the first recorded shark fatality in South Africa this year. Shark attacks are rare in the country, it said, with about 10 fatal ones since 2012, according to the Florida Museum's International Shark Attack File.
The sister's comments suggest that people who swim regularly in the waters around the city are aware of the risks. Even so, the attack has left a local swimming community grieving one of its members.
