hi folks, just saw this article on the newswire, fyi;
SHARK KILS NEW ZEALAND CHILD IN SOUTH PACIFIC
Wellington (dpa) - A seven-year-old New Zealand girl was killed by
a shark while swimming off a beach in the South Pacific island state
of Vanuatu, the foreign ministry in Wellington announced Thursday.
Alysha Margaret Webster, of Whenuakite, 130 kilometres east of
Auckland, was on a yachting holiday with her parents when the shark
attacked as she swam off Vanuatu's Malekula Island.
Paul Willis, New Zealand's senior diplomat in the capital Port
Vila, said he understood the attack ``was pretty serious and it would
have been over pretty quickly.''
He told Radio New Zealand that hammerhead, tiger and reef sharks
were common in the waters around Vanuatu's 13 large islands and 70
other islets, but attacks were ``very, very, rare indeed''.
But another New Zealander, Andrea Rush, told TV3 news that she had
been attacked by a tiger shark which bit her leg, putting her in
hospital for four operations in two years, when she swam off a yacht
at the same place. Willis said his office advised tourists in remote
areas to check with locals on safe swimming spots.
``In this case, I understand there were local people around so the
family might have had some reason to expect that it wasn't going to be
too dangerous,'' he said.
Willis said a small plane had been chartered to take the family and
the girl's body back to Port Vila and they would return to New Zealand
as quickly as possible.
Alysha's friends back at her school in the tiny coastal settlement
of Whenuakite, on the North Island's Coromandel Peninsula, painted
cards which they placed on her desk after hearing of her death.
School principal Jamie Marsden said she was a typical
seven-year-old and a ``wonderful swimmer who loved the water''.
SHARK KILS NEW ZEALAND CHILD IN SOUTH PACIFIC
Wellington (dpa) - A seven-year-old New Zealand girl was killed by
a shark while swimming off a beach in the South Pacific island state
of Vanuatu, the foreign ministry in Wellington announced Thursday.
Alysha Margaret Webster, of Whenuakite, 130 kilometres east of
Auckland, was on a yachting holiday with her parents when the shark
attacked as she swam off Vanuatu's Malekula Island.
Paul Willis, New Zealand's senior diplomat in the capital Port
Vila, said he understood the attack ``was pretty serious and it would
have been over pretty quickly.''
He told Radio New Zealand that hammerhead, tiger and reef sharks
were common in the waters around Vanuatu's 13 large islands and 70
other islets, but attacks were ``very, very, rare indeed''.
But another New Zealander, Andrea Rush, told TV3 news that she had
been attacked by a tiger shark which bit her leg, putting her in
hospital for four operations in two years, when she swam off a yacht
at the same place. Willis said his office advised tourists in remote
areas to check with locals on safe swimming spots.
``In this case, I understand there were local people around so the
family might have had some reason to expect that it wasn't going to be
too dangerous,'' he said.
Willis said a small plane had been chartered to take the family and
the girl's body back to Port Vila and they would return to New Zealand
as quickly as possible.
Alysha's friends back at her school in the tiny coastal settlement
of Whenuakite, on the North Island's Coromandel Peninsula, painted
cards which they placed on her desk after hearing of her death.
School principal Jamie Marsden said she was a typical
seven-year-old and a ``wonderful swimmer who loved the water''.
