The wedding ring from a 44-year-old Scottish man was found in the stomach of a 9-foot-long shark, identifying the man who had gone missing while snorkeling.
Richard Martin Turner had been snorkeling near Reunion Island in an Indian Ocean lagoon that had been deemed “safe” by local officials when he went missing.
His wife, Verity Turner, reported him as missing after he disappeared on Saturday. On Sunday, authorities spotted four sharks swimming in the lagoon.
In the stomach of one of the sharks, an examiner found Turner’s severed left hand with his wedding ring still in place on his finger. Mrs. Turner, whose husband had a “very English eccentric” style, identified the ring.
Authorities said DNA tests would be conducted on the remains to offer a final confirmation of Mr. Turner’s remains in addition to a final conclusion for his cause of death. They have not yet confirmed that Turner died of shark bites or if he died of cardiac arrest prior to the sharks spotting him.
They also said it’s possible the man wasn’t in the lagoon when the sharks attacked him.
A Reunion Island local told the Daily Mail,” It may be that waves pushed the man beyond the reef into open sea, or that the shark swam into the lagoon. What is now certain is that he is dead.”
The island has been a hotbed for sharks. Since 2011, there have been 11 fatal shark attacks in the region, prompting French President Emmanuel Macron to launch a $1.7 million-euro effort to curb the shark population in the area. The region has been a top destination of shark fishers.
Mr. Turner, who was a civil servant in Edinburgh, married his wife Verity in 2014.
