Incident on Mexico’s Pacific coast
“Unidentified animal” bites beach vacationers to death
December 16, 2023, 5:38 a.m
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On Mexico’s Pacific coast, two beachgoers are bitten on the legs by an unknown animal. For a holidaymaker from Belgium, any help comes too late. Authorities suspect a shark or a crocodile was behind the attack. An investigation should provide certainty.
On a Mexican beach, a visitor was bitten and died by a yet “unidentified animal”. An injured woman was taken to a hospital for treatment, the civil protection authority of the western Mexican state of Guerrero announced on Facebook.
It was initially unclear whether the animal was a shark or a crocodile, as Mexican media reported, citing local officials. The dead person is said to be a Belgian tourist.
According to the Civil Defense, the incident happened on Thursday on Quieta Beach in the resort area of Ixtapa, which is part of the Pacific municipality of Zihuatanejo. Both victims were reportedly injured in their legs. The animal that attacked her is being sought. The beach was closed.
Almost two weeks earlier, on December 2nd, a few hundred kilometers further north on Mexico’s Pacific coast, on Melaque Beach in the state of Jalisco, a young woman was bitten by a shark while swimming with her child and died.
A representative of the Coordination Center for Reconstruction in Guerrero, Randy Suástegui, gave the possible explanation to the newspaper “El Sol de Acapulco” that the passage of Hurricane “Otis” had affected the ecosystem in the region. The hurricane hit the Mexican Pacific coast near the holiday resort of Acapulco at the end of October and caused devastating damage. At least 50 people lost their lives. The Mexican government has now started a reconstruction program worth 61 billion pesos, the equivalent of around 3.3 billion euros.