Seychelles hunts shark blamed for two fatal attacks this month

A hunt is under way in the Indian Ocean archipelago of the Seychelles for a shark that is believed to have killed two tourists this month, including a British honeymooner who was attacked on Tuesday.

Ian Redmond, 30, from Lancashire, was snorkeling off Anse Lazio beach on Praslin island when the shark attacked, leaving him alive but bleeding badly from a severed arm and lacerations to the hip, leg and stomach, the BBC reported.

He is understood to have died shortly after the shark attack.

Redmond's new wife, Gemma, was sunbathing on the beach when her husband was brought to shore covered in blood, the Mail Online reported.

"I saw the swimmer, who was missing a huge chunk of flesh from his left leg, so much so that I could see the bone of his thigh. He was sickeningly pale, but still had his flippers on both feet," an American tourist said.

"At this point a woman ran over and started screaming. She said: 'That’s my husband! We were just married'.

"Someone grabbed her and tried to keep her away. People all over the beach were just hugging whoever was close to them or trying to keep any children from witnessing what was going on."

The BBC said the couple were in the second week of their honeymoon and had been due to fly home on Sunday.

Authorities suspended diving in the area and launched a hunt for the shark, which is also now believed to have killed a 36-year-old French tourist off the same beach two weeks ago.

Police spokesman Jean Toussaint said: "We discovered that the British citizen was badly injured on the hips and the arms. He was assisted medically but unfortunately he could not make it."

"We need to find the beast and get it out of our waters, we have requested help from South Africa and two experts are arriving in the country in the next day," Seychelles Tourism Board director Alain St Ange told the BBC.

Local restaurant owner Jeanne Vargiolu said the attacks were the first she could remember in the 36 years she has lived on the beach.

"It must be the same shark that attacked 16 days ago," she said.

The previous fatal shark attack in the Seychelles was in 1963.