The American vacationer who was devoured by a shark in Indonesia is believed to have died from a “medical challenge” whereas diving, her associates instructed The Publish Monday — revealing that she was an skilled deep-sea diver who was “actually having fun with life.”
Colleen Monfore, a retired mother of two from Holland, Michigan, was having fun with her dream trip — a seven-week diving tour together with her husband Mike — when tragedy struck on Sept. 26, household pal Rick Sass mentioned.
Only a few days into the journey, Monfore, 68, disappeared throughout a gaggle dive round Pulau Reong island, north of Timor-Leste and off the coast of the Southwest Maluku Regency. Two weeks later, fishermen in Timor-Leste caught the shark — and minimize human stays out of its stomach greater than 70 miles from the place she vanished.
Authorities have been capable of ID Monfore from the physique’s fingerprints, based on Sass, a longtime good friend who has been in shut contact with the household all through their harrowing ordeal.
“We don’t imagine this was a shark assault. Mike thinks she suffered some sort of medical challenge within the water,” Sass instructed The Publish.
Sass and his spouse Kim – who ran a dive store collectively for greater than 40 years – examined photographs from the dive, spoke with Mike at size concerning the incident and reviewed knowledge from his dive laptop.
The chums are adamant Monfore, who Rick Sass mentioned appears to have been separated from the group when tough waters compelled them to show round, was not killed by a shark. She was round 24 toes down and doubtless had half a tank of air left, he mentioned.
“There was a down present on the turnaround website, nevertheless it was manageable,” Kim Sass wrote in a Fb put up. “I’ve simply performed 1000+ dive[s] with this gracious girl … I don’t imagine it was the setting and positively not a shark that ended her life.”
Rick Sass added: “They dove large numbers of journeys with us over 30 years. Bali, Philippines, Bikini Atoll, you title it.
“She knew what she was doing.”
Mike Monfore was already an avid diver when he met Colleen in highschool of their native state of South Dakota, and she or he quickly too fell in love with the ocean.
That they had two youngsters and, finally, 4 grandkids, however they by no means stopped touring the world and exploring the seas collectively. “They have been each retired and actually having fun with life,” Rick Sass mentioned.
“We used to name her ‘Saint Colleen.’ She was an incredible girl,” he added. “She cherished nature and animals. I do know she would have by no means needed a shark to be blamed for this tragedy.”
He famous that shark assaults towards divers are extraordinarily uncommon.
“And sharks are usually not that means. We’ve dove with hammerheads, tiger sharks, bull sharks. You need to give them respect and be cautious, however they received’t simply assault you.”
There have been solely 69 confirmed unprovoked shark bites worldwide final 12 months, based on the Florida Museum of Pure Historical past’s Worldwide Shark Assault File, and 94% of these have been on snorkelers, waders, and surfers. The remaining 6% are categorized as “different.”
It’s not but clear how precisely Colleen Monfore died. Grisly photographs from the scene present the shark in query minimize open — with human stays in a black wetsuit close by.
“The shark was caught nevertheless it was not in regular well being. I assumed it had swallowed plastic or a fishing internet,” the fisherman mentioned, based on Asia Pacific Press. “It was minimize open to search out the issue and inside there have been the stays of a girl.”
Rick Sass mentioned her husband has been struggling not solely together with her dying however bringing his spouse’s stays again residence.
“He’s hardly been sleeping in any respect, partly as a result of he’s up on the telephone with Indonesia, which is a 12-hour time distinction,” he mentioned. “He’s answering telephone calls in the midst of the night time, and speaking to us throughout the day, and never simply not having the ability to sleep due to this horrible factor that occurred.”
Indonesian authorities mentioned an investigation is underway.
Supply hyperlink
