The American snorkeller who died in the Bahamas after being bitten by a bull shark on 6 September has been named as Caroline DiPlacido, 58, from Erie, Pennsylvania.
DiPlacido had been on a seven-day cruise from Florida on the Royal Caribbean liner Harmony On The Seas. While docked in Nassau on the third day she had joined an independent tour-boat excursion to the islands east of New Providence. At around 3pm she was snorkelling at a popular site near Green Cay off Rose Island with seven other people, including family-members, when the incident occurred.
After DiPlacido had been bitten, others in the group manage to recover her onto the tour boat, which took her back to New Providence, where she was declared dead by paramedics. She had sustained multiple bites to the upper left side of her body, according to reports.
DiPlacido was project co-ordinator for the Office of Community & Government Relations at Gannon University in Erie, and had worked there since 2009. She was married with three children.
A year ago Rose Island saw two other unusual deaths when two Bahamian men suffered severe decompression illness while spearfishing using compressed air, though it was not clear whether they had been on scuba or were hookah diving.
The divers were reported to have made rapid ascents following a shark encounter, and one had re-descended in a failed bid to recompress himself.
Very sad news, doubt there was much ‘Sport’ in it.