A swimmer was fatally killed by a shark off the coast of South Africa while wearing a magnetic repellent bracelet to ward off ocean predators.
Janine Lochrenberg, 65, a retired medical physicist, was swimming with her local open water club around 8 a.m. Tuesday off Orient Beach in the town of KuGumo when the beast attacked her, according to the BBC.
Witnesses say Lochrenberg was bitten on the thigh and upper arm and bled in the water before other swimmers could bring her to shore.
Members of his club told the outlet that Lochrenberg wore a repellent band on his ankle, intended to repel sharks by distorting their sense of electroreception.
Lochrenberg’s sister Margot revealed she held her sister’s head in her final moments as she was rushed to shore – but she believes she bled to death in the water.
She told the outlet that her brother “loved the water so much” and was aware of the “high presence of sharks” in the area.
“She had made peace with that,” Margot explained. “She had a deep affinity with water and was a remarkable person.”
The swimmer’s partner, Barbara Briceland, remembers her as a courageous and good swimmer who often swam far.
“She was very intelligent, very funny, kind, calm, caring, well-loved and a lover of life,” Briceland told the BBC.
The couple reportedly couldn’t wait to retire and go on a road trip.
This is the first recorded attack in South Africa this year.
Gn world
