It is thought that the mother who was fatally mauled by a great white shark was on vacation with her family at the time of the attack.
Owner of a restaurant Kimon Bisogno, 39, took a break from running her pizzeria in Cape Town, South Africa, to travel to a five-star resort with her daughter Luna, 5, and her boyfriend Diego Milesi, 40.
Kimon was lazily swimming through the water at Plettenberg Bay just before 8am on Sunday, September 25, when a terrifying great white shark swam towards her while hiding behind a wave.
Witnesses said Kimon had only been waist-deep when the water around her suddenly “turned red” and a frenzied evacuation from the sea was launched by fellow screaming swimmers.
A few time after being launched, an inshore vessel from the National Sea Rescue Institute arrived on the site and discovered Kimon’s bloody body drifting in the surf about 50 yards from the scene of her attack.
The lifeboat guys loaded the young mother’s badly bitten body onto a stretcher and returned to base since the sudden assault was so brutal that nothing could be done to save her.
The police received her body, and while waiting for forensic pathologists to perform a postmortem and hold an inquest, her family has been offered trauma counselling.
It was the second death in the same idyllic resort in just three months and the third in 11 years and the beach was closed down and shark warning signs erected.
Last night close friend Carmin Commins said on Facebook: “I have scrolled through your page over and over again and hoping that it is a mistake.
“I don’t know how the world could let someone like you go too soon but what I do know is that anyone that you met you touched their life with your love.
“The world truly lost a bright shining light and pure soul who left happiness, laughter, glitter and kindness where ever you went.
“You were so genuine with so much love in your heart” she said.
“Such horrible news,” a different friend, Gabrielle Alberts, added. Your contagious, joyful laugh will live on in my memory forever. Kimon, you were too good for this world.
Kimon, a South African, met the love of her life, Diego, while on vacation in Ibiza 13 years ago. They later moved in together in Cape Town, where they had a daughter named Luna five years ago.
On a Facebook video, Diego stated: “Our love story dates back 13 years. I was unable to speak English. You were unable to speak Italian. But cooking brought us together.
Both of them were dedicated to helping those who were less fortunate in life, which is why they founded the well-known Fernando’s Pizza restaurant and takeaway in Cape Town.
