Mum dies after fatal shark encounter in Mexico
A mum in Mexico has died after her leg was bitten off by a shark at a popular seaside resort.
Playing in the water with her young daughter, just 75 feet from shore, the mum - named as Maria Fernandez Martinez Jimenez - was trying to lift her to safety on a pontoon and was unharmed.
Melaque Beach in the state of Jalisco, Mexico.
With some describing how the mum was able to boost her five-year-old child out of danger, it is hard to not see the scenes of Marge from JAWS 2 pushing a young Sean Brody to safety, with her being taken by the shark. That is very much a work of fiction, this is not, with this terrible event unfolding just a few weeks before Christmas.
Although authorities were said to be quick to act, the mum died of massive blood loss due to her severe injury, which sone news sources are suggesting is the result of a bull shark bite.
The bull shark, the tiger shark and the great white shark are the three species of shark with the most human fatalities attributed to them.
Authorities closed the beaches in Melaque, where the encounter took place, and the better-known beach town of Barra de Navidad to swimmers in response to the shocking death.
Thankfully, such shark encounters are incredibly rare, and are not common in Mexico, something which Ms Martinez Jimenez would have most likely been aware of, as she was a marine biology student at University of Guadalajara.
Maria Fernanda Martinez, the woman who died in Jalisco, Mexico after being attacked by a shark
The infrequency of shark attack deaths in that area certainly doesn't make it any less tragic.
And that is part of the reason it is so shocking, as such horrific events are so rare.
The International Shark Attack File (ISAF) announced at the start of this year that with 57 unprovoked shark bites in 2022, it was the joint lowest number recorded for the last decade.
It's likely that the attack was a case of mistaken identity, someone in their domain in the wrong place at the wrong time, especially as there were plenty of other people in the sea.
The ocean is a shared environment, and many people using it knowing that they are taking that risk that they could be sharing it with a shark that may, or may not, want to check them out.
If you are going swimming in the sea, here's some practical advice on helping you avoid a negative shark encounter and help you stay shark safe.
Words by Dean Newman
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