Historical reference record — not independently verified
Shark incident at Nu Ulua Upolu Island Western Samoa — 1972
Original historical summary
The original reference is retained below. Supplementary source details appear in the fact panel; protected facts and unresolved differences remain unchanged.
A historical reference describes an event at Nu Ulua Upolu Island Western Samoa in 1972. Recorded activity: Unknown. Classification: Unknown. Outcome: Unknown.
Original reference details
- Location recorded in the historical reference: Nu Ulua Upolu Island Western Samoa.
- Date: 1972.
- Activity: Unknown.
- Classification: Unknown.
- Outcome: Unknown.
Source limitations and unresolved differences
- The retained evidence does not support a more precise activity; it remains Unknown.
- The retained evidence does not support a more precise outcome; it remains Unknown.
- The surviving evidence does not justify a more specific incident classification.
- No shark species identification is supported by the retained evidence.
- The date is intentionally shown with limited precision; no day is invented.
- This restoration uses a supplied historical summary citing the general GSAF incident log, not a case-level primary document. It has not been independently verified.
- Low automated score is caused by diacritic/legacy spelling; year, country, island and Nu'ulua location align.
- The supplied source lists 1972-04-16; the existing reviewed date is retained pending case-level reconciliation.
Fact panel
- Date
- 1972
- Date precision
- Year
- Location
- Nu Ulua Upolu Island Western Samoa
- Country
- Western Samoa
- Activity
- Swimming
- Incident classification
- Unknown
- Area / state
- Upolu Island
- Person / vessel
- Alan Banner, Peace Corps volunteer
- Age
- 25.0
- Sex
- M
- Outcome
- Unknown
- Species
- Thought to involve a tiger shark
- Species confidence
- Reported
- Coordinate precision
- Region
Incident location
Nu’ulua, Upolu Island, Western Samoa
Approximate area: Upolu
The marker represents the named area, not the exact incident site.
The interactive map loads when it comes into view. Incident details remain available as text.
Location precision: Approximate area
Representative map position for Upolu from Natural Earth. This marks the general area, not the exact incident site. This is historical location context, not live shark tracking or a measure of risk.
Sources and verification
- Historical incident log (general reference) — Global Shark Attack FileSupports: General reference cited by the supplied historical summary; not independently checked against a case-level record.
- GSAF-derived structured public mirror (sascha-pst/bullish_on_sharks/global_shark_attacks.csv) — github.comSupports: Supplementary historical fields; existing reviewed facts retained
Shark incident records can change as investigations develop. This page shows the current verification status and was last restored from supplied historical reference material on 2026-09-04.
Historical facts retain the provenance and uncertainty of the cited references. Source timestamps record when the supplied material was imported, not an independent source retrieval or verification.
Supplementary content updated: 2026-09-24. This does not change the original verification status or review date.