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A 38-year-old French tourist was killed by a shark in the Caribbean.
Government spokesman Alain Rioual said the animal bit off the woman's leg on Thursday around 150 meters off the coast of the French overseas territory of Saint-Martin.
It was the first time in the recent history of Saint Martin that such a fatal attack had occurred.
After the woman died in the popular Orient Bay, swimming and all other water sports were banned for 48 hours.
According to experts, shark attacks are generally very rare in the Caribbean.
In Saint-Martin, which shares a Caribbean island with the Dutch area of Sint Maarten, the last time there was a shark attack was in 2005, but it was not fatal, said Tyler Bowling of the Florida Shark Research Program.
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According to him, 34 unprovoked shark attacks have been counted in the entire Caribbean since 2000, four of which were fatal.