Holidaymaker, 39, is killed by great white shark in South Africa during early morning swim

A screaming woman was killed in a horrific attack by a great white shark as she took an early morning swim this morning while celebrating a public holiday weekend.

The 39-year-old victim was in shallow water when the deadly predator quickly entered from deep water and grabbed her by the jaws, close to fellow swimmers.

The woman standing on the edge of the group let out a scream as the shark hit her and bit her in the flash and disappeared under the water.

The National Sea Rescue Institute was called when screaming swimmers and surfers cleared the water off Central Beach, Plettenberg Bay, South Africa, just before 8am.

An NSRI shore rescue vessel was launched and rushed to the scene of the accident and quickly found the savage body of the blood-soaked woman about 15 meters offshore.

The municipality of Bitou, which oversees the beach, has closed the bay and has put up signs and volunteers to warn people to stay out of the water.

The woman believed to be on vacation was the third to be viciously attacked and killed by a great white shark in Plettenberg Bay in the past 11 years.

An eyewitness told rescuers: ‘It was a bit cloudy but there was some sun and quite a few people taking an early swim as the temperature was quite warm.

‘Then I heard a lot of screaming and I saw people running out of the water. I suspected it was a shark attack, but I was a long way away and then the lifeboat surfaced.

“Then I heard that a woman had been attacked as she only swam out two or three waves, so it was quite shallow, but it was said nothing could be done to help her,” she said.

Last June, stockbroker and married father Bruce Wolov, an acclaimed long-distance swimmer and avid snorkeler, was mauled just offshore.

And in 2011, local carpenter and avid surfer Tim Van Heerden was sitting on his board when a great white shark attacked while waiting to catch a wave.

It bit him hard on the attack and he was knocked into the sea and when he grabbed his board the Great White ripped him a second time with a final and deadly bite.

Despite a brave friend grabbing him and putting him on rocks, he sustained two massive bite wounds to his groin and thigh, which had severed the femoral artery.

Bitou Mayor David Swart said: ‘Until 2011, we had never had a fatality in Plettenberg and now we have three with two in the last three months.

“We are researching and looking at installing a shark barrier and raised warning signs and are starting our lifeguard’s season a month earlier than usual.

“Shark behavior doesn’t seem to change in this area, so it’s a bit of a mystery why we’ve had three fatal attacks in such a short time.

“Our thoughts go out to the woman and her family at this time,” he said.

In South Africa, yesterday was a public holiday for Heritage Day and traditionally it is a time for a long weekend away to celebrate with family and friends.

The tragic victim is from Cape Town and is said to have been on holiday in the popular seaside resort 500 kilometers from Cape Town on the Garden Route.

Her badly bitten body has been handed over to forensic pathologists and the police to prepare a judicial record while her next of kin are all notified.

Great white sharks can grow up to 6 meters in length and weigh up to 2 tons and have up to 300 razor-sharp serrated teeth arranged in rows in their giant jaws.

The predator can swim up to 55 mph when attacked, guided by an extremely powerful sense of smell, but normally hunts seals, sea lions, dolphins and turtles.

People are often mistaken for seals, especially when wearing wet suits, and experts say attacks are not intentional, but “experimental” when they bite.

They usually go away after biting once when they realize that humans are not their natural prey, but the damage done by just one powerful bite is often fatal.

In the past 25 years, 37 people have been killed in shark attacks off the coast of South Africa, and going back to 1950, the number rises to 66 who fell victim to their jaws.

Shark activity along the Garden Route from Port Elizabeth to Cape Town increases in winter as a result of the annual sardine run – an important source of food for a long period of time.

A South African shark expert, who asked not to be named, said: ‘Don’t forget that the ocean has always been shark’s territory – they rule.

“There are more and more people in the water these days with surfing and paddle boarding and swimming and the sharks are always never far away.

“But they don’t look for people and attacks are rare and usually not intended because they mistake people for prey, but the results are often deadly.”

You are 47 times more likely to be killed by lightning or 11 times more likely to be killed by fireworks than by a shark. Wrong place, wrong time,’ he said.