NZ girl killed by shark in Vanuatu

The family of the New Zealand girl killed by a shark in Vanuatu yesterday are hoping to return home as soon as possible.


Alysha Margaret Webster, seven, of Whitianga on the Coromandel Peninsula, was killed yesterday when attacked by a shark at a beach on Malekula Island in northern Vanuatu.


New Zealand's High Commissioner to Vanuatu, Paul Willis, said Alysha's parents Grant and Sheree Webster, and two siblings, arrived in the capital Port Vila tonight.


The High Commission arranged a flight for the family from Malekula back to Port Vila and they were looking to get back to New Zealand as quickly as they could.


"Having to watch their daughter die from a shark attack was quite horrendous," Mr Willis said.


"I spoke to the father earlier today and he is understandably quite distraught. They are keen to get back to the rest of their family in New Zealand as quickly as they can."


Arrangements were also being made to fly Alysha's body home, Mr Willis said.


It coould take a day or two before they were able to secure a flight back to New Zealand, he said.


Mr Willis said the Websters were in Vanuatu on a family holiday.


"They hired a yacht and were having a pleasant time sailing through the islands here before stopping at Malekula.


"Alysha was swimming in an area where local people were also swimming at the time the attack happened."


Jamie Marsden, principal of the Whitianga school that Alysha attended, said she was a typical seven-year-old girl.


"She loved life, lived life to the fullest," he told National Radio.


"She played netball, she did dancing, she loved skipping, she was a wonderful swimmer and she loved the water.


"She was a very determined little girl, a very bubbly personality, lots of friends and she'll be sadly missed."


The school had about 130 children and everyone there would know Alysha, he said.


Staff and students had been told and strategies to help them deal with the tragedy had been put in place.


"It's a huge shock -- most of us are parents as well -- and we feel for them."


He said further support networks would be put in place when Alysha's older sister Jessica returned to school.


Mr Willis said he believed shark attacks off Malekula were not especially common.


"I believe that in the past 12 months there have been two deaths in Vanuatu, including this one. The other was off the island of Santo to the north.


"My staff say there are more sharks around in the central province of Malampa, which Malekula is a part of, but not any more shark attacks."


However, Vanuatu's Port Vila Presse newspaper said the attack was not uncommon.


"Malekula is well known for shark attacks and a number of Vanuatu children have been taken over the years in similar circumstances," the newspaper said on its website.


Visitors to the more remote parts of Vanuatu were advised to talk to elders in local villages to ascertain the safest places to swim, Mr Willis said.


It appeared Alysha was swimming in an area along with Malekula residents, who presumably had good knowledge of the area.


At least two other New Zealanders are known to have died in shark attacks overseas.


Cameron Bayes, 25, was killed by a great white shark while surfing at Cactus Beach off South Australia in 2000, while Stephen Davies, 33, died off Taveuni Island in Fiji in 1992.


At least nine people have died from shark attacks in New Zealand.


- NZPA