Shark kills 65-year-old swimmer at Orient Beach, South Africa

A 65-year-old woman has been killed by a shark while swimming with a group off Orient Beach in KuGompo City — formerly East London — on South Africa’s Eastern Cape coast.

Police were summoned to the beach at around 7am on Tuesday, 20 October. A witness told public broadcaster SABC the swimmer indicated she was in trouble before those with her realised what had happened.

“We all realised she’d been bitten by a shark, and she was in a very bad way,” the witness said. “The bites were very severe, but there were only two, one on her thigh and one on her upper arm.”

She was brought back to shore, where she was declared dead on the beach.

Eastern Cape police spokesperson Colonel Siphokazi Mawisa said officers found the woman’s body with open wounds. An inquest has been opened at KuGompo SAPS. Her identity is being withheld pending notification of her next of kin.

The Buffalo City municipality closed Orient Beach and nearby Eastern Beach until further notice, urging the public to stay out of the water and exercise extreme caution. The species of shark involved was not immediately known, Reuters reported.

Sources: Reuters (via GMA News) — https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/topstories/world/1006591/shark-kills-swimmer-off-south-africa-s-eastern-cape/story/ · IOL — https://iol.co.za/news/politics/2026-10-20-shark-attack-horror-woman-65-killed-during-open-water-swim-at-eastern-cape-beach/ · Reuters (via DZRH) — https://www.dzrh.com.ph/post/shark-kills-woman-swimming-off-south-africas-eastern-cape