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CAPE TOWN (AFP)

A fatal shark attack in South Africa’s holiday hotspot Cape Town prompted the closure of several beaches on Wednesday, at the height of the summer tourist season.

Emergency workers were still searching for the body of a Zimbabwean tourist last seen Tuesday as the shark homed in on him at the popular Fish Hoek beach.

“Eyewitness accounts … certainly indicate that the gentleman was killed almost instantly,” said Gregg Oelofse of Cape Town’s environmental services.

The city on Wednesday banned swimming at closed beaches in the area, after the country’s second deadly shark attack in less than a month.

Eight sharks were sighted near Fish Hoek on Friday and Saturday by the city’s Shark Spotters programme, which has recorded 570 sightings over six years.

Last year, South Africa had six shark attacks, four of them fatal, said Mike Anderson-Reade of the KwaZulu-Natal Sharks Board.

“The possible reasons for the recent spate of incidents could be attributed to the summer months when sharks are known to be more active close inshore, more bathers using the ocean…(and) generally more turbid water visibility due to increased rainfall,” he told AFP.