JOHANNESBURG, Oct 20 (Reuters) - A 65-year-old woman was killed by a shark at a popular beach off the coast of South Africa's Eastern Cape province on Tuesday, local authorities said.
"A fatal shark attack occurred at the Orient Beach this morning, resulting in a tragic loss of a swimmer," a spokesperson for the local municipality told Reuters.
The woman was swimming with a group when she indicated she was in trouble, a witness told public broadcaster SABC.
"We all realised she'd been bitten by a shark, and she was in a very bad way," the witness said. "The bites were very severe, but there were only two, one on her thigh and one on her upper arm."
He said the woman was brought back to shore, where she was declared dead on the beach.
Locals gathered near the covered body of the woman, which lay on a surfboard near KuGompo City's Orient Beach, a Reuters photograph showed.
Eastern Cape police said officers who attended the scene found her body with open wounds and opened an inquest.
The species of shark involved was not immediately known.
Buffalo City municipality has closed the beach and nearby Eastern Beach until further notice and urged people to exercise caution.
South Africa's coast has many shark species, but it is popularly known for great white sharks, which draw tourists worldwide for cage diving and shark-watching trips.
(Reporting by Nilutpal Timsina. Editing by Alexander Winning and Andrew Heavens and Mark Potter)
