‘We should have done more to avert second shark death’

SEYCHELLES officials yesterday admitted more could have been done to warn tourists before a UK honeymooner died in a shark attack last week.

Ian Redmond, a 30-year-old from Lancashire, was the second swimmer killed by a shark within a month in the waters off Praslin island.

The IT specialist from Nelson had wed primary schoolteacher Gemma Houghton just ten days earlier. According to his 27-year-old wife, he had laughed off the possibility of a shark attack before snorkelling off Anse Lazio beach where he was bitten on Tuesday. Tourism chief Alain St Ange said: “Maybe we should have closed the beach in hindsight. The beach was manned by police. They tried to get to as many people as possible to say: ‘please don’t go into the sea or stay at knee-depth’, where the sharks would not be.

“There are no signs, but we had two policemen on the beach. I don’t want to have the dilemma of having to explain why Ian was not warned. We did try. Maybe not enough. Maybe we should have done more”

Officials have banned swimming in certain areas until the killer shark is captured.