Great White breaching... Photo: Chris Fallows
A wreath of flowers lay on a bench on Jagger's Walk early today, the bench where Tyna Webb always left her towelling robe before plunging into the sea for her regular early morning swim.
But yesterday's swim was her last.
Shortly before 7am an exceptionally large shark, believed to be a 6m Great White, seized the elderly resident of Sunny Cove, Fish Hoek, in its jaws.
Cape Argus | Fish Hoek Mourns After Horror Attack
"The attack happened at 7am yesterday about 150 metres from the shore. After the attack a small crowd, several eyewitnesses among them who said the shark was about six metres long, gazed out to sea in shock.
Many in the crowd knew Webb and several had swum with her in the mornings.
Said fellow swimmer Carla Reiman: "I had just arrived on the beach and saw the trek fishermen waving a flag and shouting from the watchpoint on the mountain. From the beach, I saw the fin, then the whole shark, coming out of the water. It thrashed around. Everybody was screaming and shouting."
Cape Times | Shark Victim's Final Seconds
They say there is a Great White for every wave in False Bay. As horrific as Tyna Webb's death might have been, and as much as we sympathise with her family and friends, these sharks seldom attack people and need our protection. Follow the White Shark Trust to Seal Island or visit the Florida Museum of Natural History's Ichthyology Section for more information on these remarkable creatures.
