Brit dies in shark attack in Seychelles

Aug 17, 2011 07:00AM GMT

A British man has been killed in a shark attack while snorkelling 20yards off shore while on honeymoon in the Seychelles.

Ian Redmond, 30, from Lancashire, who was staying with his wife Gemma at La Reserve hotel, was swimming off Anse Lazio beach on the island of Praslin, a favourite honeymoon destination for thousands of Britons every year.

It was the second fatal attack reported in the area in two weeks when a French tourist was killed by a shark off the same beach – the first attack since a fisherman died after being bitten in 1963.

Around 19,000 British tourists travel to the Indian Ocean islands each year, many travelling on honeymoon.

The Foreign & Commonwealth Office confirmed that Mr Redmond had died in the Indian Ocean archipelago and it was offering assistance to his family.

Tourism director Alain St Ange said the Seychelles authorities were taking the attacks very seriously.

“If there is a rogue shark out there, we will try to catch it,” he said. “We have requested shark experts from South Africa to come over to Seychelles to help us identify the type of shark it could be, but this kind of thing has never ever happened in Seychelles before.”

Minister for home affairs and environment Joel Morgan held an emergency meeting in the capital Victoria to discuss what can be done to protect visitors and locals from a shark that some believe may not be native to Seychelles waters, the Daily Mail reported.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge spent their honeymoon on a private island in the Seychelles earlier this year.