Body of Endurance Athlete Apparently Attacked by Great White Located on Pacific Shore

Rescue crews in California have found the deceased of a experienced swimmer on a coastal area north-west of Santa Cruz. The recovery comes approximately six days after she went missing amid speculation that she was fatally attacked by a shark.

The body of Erica Fox were found on Saturday, as announced by her relatives. The woman, 55, was a member of a gathering of more than a several swimmers who began their swim from a coastal park near Monterey, California on 21 December, but she did not come back to dry land. A passerby reported to authorities that they saw a shark with what seemed to be a human body in its grip come out of the ocean.

The tragic event and news of the predator garnered significant media focus and initiated extensive search operations from local agencies to search for her. The following day, Jean-François Vanreusel and other fellow swimmers from her training community held a commemorative gathering along the shoreline. Her dad remembered her as an empathetic and kind woman who loved swimming and had taken part in many endurance events, including the yearly Alcatraz triathlon.

Officials last week initiated a large-scale search and rescue operation involving several Coast Guard teams along with personnel from area first responder agencies. The maritime authority suspended its mission for the swimmer after a 15-hour operation that covered approximately dozens of miles of coastline.

Fire department personnel reported on that Saturday that they had found a deceased individual on the coastline. The local sheriff's department issued a statement the same day, citing an open case into the fatality.

“Earlier today, at approximately two in the afternoon, a deceased individual was found in the ocean south of that location. Due to the geographical connection to the recent shark incident case in that region, our department is coordinating with the local authorities and the Pacific Grove Police Department regarding the investigation,” the release said.

An editor and friend, Sara Rubin, described Fox as a companion and avid swimmer who found peace in the Pacific Ocean. Rubin stated that Fox and a friend began a tradition of swimming every Sunday at the point two decades ago. She noted that Erica never needed a article to tell her what she learned by doing: that swimming in the ocean was a therapy for the soul, an adventure as much as a meditation.

Rubin said that Fox had cultivated a close bond with the Pacific Ocean by getting into it—repeatedly, on stormy days and serene days, logging what could only be guessed as an immense distance.

Additionally that the athlete “understood the risk” of swimming in an ocean with a presence of predators, and would have objected to labeling it an attack. Instead people to view it as an incident—natural predator behavior is simply that.

While many species of marine predators inhabit the California coast, violent incidents are very uncommon. In the history leading up to this tragedy, there have been only a total of sixteen shark-related fatalities in the state in the past 75 years.