The victim was swimming near the pontoon of the busy beach in the capital when he was bitten several times. The fifty-year-old was helped by two water sports enthusiasts in the area, says attorney Yves Dupas.

The emergency services found serious bites on the leg and two arms. Attempts at resuscitation were unsuccessful.

There were many people in the water when the incident occurred. This created panic on the Plage du Château Royal, which was immediately evacuated. The mayor of Noumea, Sonia Lagarde, ordered the closure of most of the beaches, the city council’s press release said. She launched a campaign to catch tiger and bull sharks along with the province of Southern New Caledonia. Drones were also deployed, which spotted two sharks in the area. But at nightfall, operations were halted.

On January 29, another swimmer was seriously injured on the same beach after a shark bite. Five days later, a shark attacked a surfer, but he was unharmed.

Shark attacks are nevertheless extremely rare. The Florida Museum of Natural History counted 57 unprovoked shark bites worldwide in 2022, where a human was bitten in shark habitat without any provocation. Five of them were fatal. The previous five years had averaged 70 unprovoked shark bites.