Body of triathlete apparently killed by shark found on California beach | California
California firefighters found the body of a California triathlete on a beach northwest of Santa Cruz, almost a week after he went missing amid speculation he was killed by a shark.
Erica Fox’s remains were found along with her father and husband on Saturday. approved with local news sales points. Fox, 55, was part of a group of more than a dozen swimmers who left Lovers Point near Monterey, Calif., on Dec. 21 but never returned to shore. A witness passing by the area reported to authorities that they saw a shark emerging from the water with what appeared to be a human body in its mouth. According to the San Francisco Chronicle.
The shark’s disappearance and its reports attracted public attention and prompted authorities to scramble to find Fox. On Sunday, Fox’s husband, Jean-François Vanreusel, and other members of the swimming club held a memorial service Walk along the Lovers Point shoreline. Fox’s father confirmed Death on NBC Bay AreaShe described her daughter as an empathetic and kind person who loved swimming and took part in numerous triathlons, including the annual triathlon. Escape from Alcatraz challenge.
Authorities launched a massive search and rescue operation last week to search for Fox, involving multiple U.S. Coast Guard boat crews as well as responders from local fire and police departments. Coast Guard suspended the call It was carried out for Fox last Monday after a 15-hour operation covering a distance of approximately 84 nautical miles.
California firefighters announced Saturday that they had found a body on Davenport Beach, just south of Santa Cruz. The Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office released a statement the same day indicating an ongoing investigation into the death.
“At approximately 2:00 this afternoon, a body was recovered from the ocean south of Davenport Beach. Due to its proximity to the latest shark attack victim in Monterey County, our agency is working closely with the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office and Pacific Grove Police Department on the recovery,” the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office said.
Editor and fellow swimmer Sara Rubin to write Monterey County Weekly described Fox as a friend and passionate athlete who found peace in the Pacific Ocean.
“Twenty years ago, Erica Fox and a friend started swimming every Sunday at Lovers Point in Pacific Grove. Since then, many books have been written about the science of swimming and what swimming does for our brains. But Erica never needed a book to tell her what she knew through experience: Swimming in the ocean is a balm for body and mind, an adventure as much as meditation.” Rubin wrote. “He forged a deep and intimate relationship with the Pacific Ocean, not by studying it or looking at it, but by entering it—logging what I can estimate to be thousands of miles, over and over again, on choppy days and gloriously calm days.”
Rubin said Fox “understands the risk” of swimming in an ocean with great white sharks and that he “would object to describing this as an attack and would instead want us to call it an incident”; “This is exactly how an animal behaves.”
Although many shark species live off the coast of California, violent incidents with humans are extremely rare. Before Fox’s death 16 shark-related deaths in California over the last 75 years.
