Historical reference record — not independently verified
Shark incident at Mbibi Kwazulu Natal South Africa — May 2, 1979
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A historical reference describes an event at Mbibi Kwazulu Natal South Africa in 1979-05-02. Recorded activity: Scuba diving. Classification: Unprovoked. Outcome: Fatal.
Original reference details
- Location recorded in the historical reference: Mbibi Kwazulu Natal South Africa.
- Date: 1979-05-02.
- Activity: Scuba diving.
- Classification: Unprovoked.
- Outcome: Fatal.
Source limitations and unresolved differences
- No shark species identification is supported by the retained evidence.
- 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.
- The supplied source lists 1979-05-03; the existing reviewed date is retained pending case-level reconciliation.
Fact panel
- Date
- May 2, 1979
- Date precision
- Exact
- Location
- Mbibi Kwazulu Natal South Africa
- Country
- South Africa
- Activity
- Scuba diving
- Incident classification
- Unprovoked
- Area / state
- KwaZulu-Natal
- Person / vessel
- Alan Edly Symons
- Sex
- M
- Time
- >12h00
- Outcome
- Fatal
- Species
- Unknown
- Species confidence
- Unknown
- Coordinate precision
- Region
Incident location
Mbibi, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Approximate area: KwaZulu-Natal
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 KwaZulu-Natal 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.