Tourist killed by shark while snorkelling in Bahamas is identified

‘Caroline was a powerful presence of kindness and friendship,’ university chaplain says

The Pennsylvania woman killed in a shark attack while snorkelling in the Bahamas has been identified as 58-year-old Caroline DiPlacido.

The Gannon University staff member was identified on Wednesday. The Millcreek Township resident was a project coordinator at the Erie institution. She died on Tuesday, according to university officials, the New York Post reported.

She graduated from the school in 1986 and came back in 2009 to become a secretary for marketing and communications.

Gannon University chaplain Michael Kesicki said that “Caroline was a powerful presence of kindness and friendship”.

“The news is devastating, and she will be missed,” he added, according to The Post.

Ms DiPlacido is survived by her husband David, her three children, her mother and her extended family.

The tourist killed by a shark while snorkelling in the Bahamas has been identified as Caroline DiPlacido (Facebook / Caroline DiPlacido)

Police have said that Ms DiPlacido travelled to the Bahamas on a weeklong cruise with four members of her family, arriving in the Bahamas on Tuesday.

The ship, the Royal Caribbean’s Harmony of the Seas, left Florida on Sunday.

The cruise ship ‘The Harmony of the Seas’ part of the Royal Caribbean International fleet, is seen moored at a quay in the port of Miami, Florida, on December 23, 2020, amid the Coronavirus pandemic (AFP via Getty Images)

Police said that Ms DiPlacido was snorkelling near Green Cay in the northern part of the island when she was attacked by a bull shark, according to the Associated Press.

The authorities were made aware of the attack just after 3pm. Her family tried to save her but she sustained major injuries to her left side.

The snorkelling tour was booked with a local company that transported them to the waters off Nassau, Royal Bahamas Police Force Superintendent Chrislyn Skippings told the press.

Family members spotted Ms DiPlacido being attacked in the water. They told the tour company, leading to the group of between five and seven people, alongside the operators of the boat, dragging her from the water, according to the authorities.

Royal Caribbean International said Ms DiPlacido died at a hospital in the area.

“Royal Caribbean is providing support and assistance to the guest’s loved ones during this difficult time,” they said in a statement on Tuesday, according to ABC News.

The Florida Museum of Natural History’s International Shark Attack File reviewed 137 instances of shark contact with humans last year, 73 of which were considered unprovoked attacks by sharks against people, and 39 were registered as provoked attacks.