An Indian-origin US financier has been killed in a shark attack while scuba diving off a Costa Rican island in the Pacific Ocean, officials said.
Rohina Bhandari, 49, a Wall Street private equity manager from New York City, suffered fatal bites to both her legs during the shark attack last week while she was diving with a group near Cocos Island, a national park about 300 miles off the Costa Rican mainland, New York Post reported on Sunday.
She was a senior director at WL Ross & Co. LL, a firm founded by Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, and often attended New York City charity events.
She was dragged from the Pacific Ocean but could not be saved. Her 26-year-old diving instructor was also badly injured in last Thursday's attack.
The male instructor, who was conscious and in relatively stable condition, told officials that the shark attacked when his group was surfacing at the tail end of the dive in the waters.
According to the Costa Rican newspaper La Nacion, the guide noticed the shark approaching his group underwater and tried to scare it away. But as they surfaced, the shark went for Bhandari, tearing at her legs. The guide, too, suffered leg injuries.
Authorities said two park rangers and several doctors who were part of the diving tourism group of 18 people on the island trip organised by the Undersea Hunter Group, offered first aid in a desperate bid to save her.
Friends paid tribute to the Manhattan resident on Facebook. "Unbelievably sad and heartbreaking news that Rohina has died," wrote Julie Walker. "She was such a wonderful person who loved life. I will always remember her kindness, friendship and our adventures together."
Another friend wrote: "Your kindness and genuine warmth to those of us lucky enough to call you 'friend' was a blessing to behold."
Rohina Bhandari, 49, senior director of marketing and investor relations at W L Ross & Co. on wall Street died from shark attack.
The incident happened on Nov. 30, off the coast of Isla del Coco, a remote island, in Costa Rica where she went scuba diving with a tour group, reported the New York Daily.
Rohina was part of an 18-member group, members of which were diving off Cocos Island National Park— a UNESCO World Heritage Site known for its abundant species of sharks.
Even their 26-year-old instructor was bitten but he was rescued. He was reported to be in a stable condition after he was hospitalised.
The country’s environment ministry, however, stressed that such an incident was “isolated†and that this was the first such fatal accident recorded in the island.
Rohina was the granddaughter of IG Balakrishna Shetty and sister of Dr Nitin Bhandary from Mangaluru. She was seen at many charity events in New York city, Daily Mail said.
She earned a masters degree in finance from Washington University in Washington, D.C., where she received the “Leadership Award†for 2001-2002. She also had a bachelors degree in commerce from Bangalore University.
According to the diving instructor, the predator was a female shark. Tiger sharks can be as large as 15 feet in length and can weigh more than 850 kilograms.
Unlike other breeds of sharks, tiger sharks are known to attack humans and come only second to the great white shark when it comes to reported shark attacks on humans.
They have dark stripes on their bluish green skin resembling tigers. But with age, the stripes disappear or fade. They are found in the east coast of North America to the east coast of Brazil, including the Gulf of Mexico and in the Indian Ocean.
