A British man killed by a shark in the Seychelles had “no chance of surviving,” police said today.
Ian Redmond (30) was on honeymoon when the attack happened yesterday off Anse Lazio beach on Praslin, the second largest island in the Indian Ocean archipelago.
One onlooker said she saw the victim’s wife saying she “still had hope” for her husband while he lay on the beach with horrific injuries.
Earlier this month a 36-year-old French tourist was killed by a shark in the same area.
Government officials have issued a ban on swimming in certain areas until the shark is captured.
The Foreign Office confirmed the latest victim was Ian Martin Redmond, from Lancashire.
“We are providing consular assistance to the next of kin,” a Foreign Office spokesman said.
It was reported that Mr Redmond’s parents and those of his wife were travelling to the Seychelles following the attack.
Jeanne Vargiolu (56) owner of a nearby restaurant, said she went to the beach after hearing ambulance sirens to find a French doctor treating the man and “a lot of police officers” surrounding him.
She said police told her the man had lost one arm, had a badly damaged leg and holes in his chest and stomach from shark bites.
“I saw his wife talking to about five people - I think one was English - that she still had hope he was still alive,” she said.
She added: “They were trying to help him but they could not get him alive.”
Police spokesman Jean Toussaint said the attack happened shortly before 5pm local time while Mr Redmond was swimming.
He said: “We discovered that the British citizen was badly injured on the hips and the arms. He was assisted medically but unfortunately he could not make it."
“We haven’t got the autopsy report yet but he definitely lost a lot of blood.”
He said Mr Redmond lost an arm in the attack and was taken to hospital, but could not be saved.
“He had no chance of surviving because of the nature of the injuries,” he added.
Mr Toussaint confirmed that Mr Redmond and his wife were in the second week of their honeymoon and had been due to fly home on Sunday.
He said “a big effort” was being made to catch the shark.
“We had this first incident two weeks ago and for the local community it was a freak incident because it had never been reported before around the islands.
“It took everybody by surprise.”
The last recorded fatal shark attack in the Seychelles was in 1963.
Agencies