Seychelles closes beaches after second shark attack
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A second fatal shark attack involving a tourist in less than a month has forced the Seychelles government to issue a Maritime Safety Advisory banning swimming in waters off Praslin island. The Seychelles Minister for Home Affairs, Environment, Transport & Energy, Joel Morgan, chaired an emergency meeting on Tuesday evening to discuss the situation.The Seychelles government expressed their sympathy to the families of the two visitors – an Englishman and a Frenchman – who lost their lives in two separate attacks thought to involve the same shark.”With immediate effect, the Seychelles Maritime Safety Administration has issued a temporary ban on swimming or entering the water in certain bays of the island of Praslin and islands off the coast of Praslin following two fatal shark attacks this month in the northwest area of the island,” the government said in a statement.The advisory warned against swimming in Anse Lazio, Anse Georgette, Petite Anse Kerlan, Grand Anse Kerlan, St. Pierre island or Curieuse island.”This measure will be enforced for a certain period in order to search for the shark and remove it from the water. For all other areas of Praslin and La Digue, people should swim close to the beach, within a short distance, and not in deep water,” the statement read. The Seychelles National Parks Authority in collaboration with the Praslin Development Fund, Seychelles Coat Guard, the Police, the Department of Environment, and the Seychelles Fishing Authority, as well as several private boat owners and Seychellois fishermen have agreed to work together to capture the shark.The Maritime Safety Administration will also reinforce the ban of dumping of waste from yachts and other boats, which have been reported in some of these areas.The last recorded fatal shark attack in Seychelles waters prior to the latest incidents was in 1963.
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