Woman, 65, killed by shark off Orient Beach in KuGompo City, South Africa

A 65-year-old woman was killed in a shark attack while swimming off Orient Beach in KuGompo City, formerly East London, on South Africa's southeastern coast on Tuesday, police and municipal authorities said. Officers were called to the scene at about 7 a.m. and found her body. Eastern Cape police spokesperson Col. Siphokazi Mawisa told The Associated Press that an inquest has been opened into the death. [ 3 , 4 , 5 ]

The Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality said in a statement it was deeply saddened to confirm that a fatal shark attack occurred at Orient Beach that morning. The municipality closed Orient Beach and nearby Eastern Beach until further notice, saying they will reopen only after safety assessments and expert advice. It urged beachgoers to swim only in designated areas while lifeguards are on duty, from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. [ 3 , 4 , 5 ]

Fellow swimmer Mike Loewe told SABC that members of an open-water swimming group responded to the woman's distress signal and brought her ashore. A medic in the group tried to save her, but she was declared dead at the scene, he said. He described her as a recently retired nuclear radiographer and a musician, and said her death had devastated the swimming community. CBS News reported that a local community group said other swimmers had spotted a shark's tail and fin, and that the woman had severe injuries to her right arm and leg. A witness told SABC there were only two bites, one on her thigh and one on her upper arm. [ 3 , 4 , 5 ]

The New York Post, citing the BBC, named the woman as Janine Lochrenberg, 65, and described her as a retired medical physicist. It said she was swimming with her local open-water club at around 8 a.m. Members of her club told the BBC she was wearing a repellent band on her ankle. Her sister Margot said she was holding her sister's head as she was rushed to shore but believes she bled out in the water. The documents differ on the time of the attack and on the woman's former occupation. [ 7 ]

AP reported that shark attacks in South Africa are rare. According to municipal records, the city's last fatal shark attack was in 1997 and its most recent reported attack occurred in 2023. The International Shark Attack File recorded 29 unprovoked bites in the country between 2012 and 2021, an average of about three a year, six of them fatal. CBS News, citing the file, said there was one unprovoked attack in South Africa last year, which was fatal, and 65 unprovoked shark bites worldwide in 2025, including nine fatalities. [ 3 , 4 , 5 ]