The American vacationer who was devoured by a shark in Indonesia is believed to have died from a “medical concern” whereas diving, her pals informed 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 along with her husband Mike — when tragedy struck on Sept. 26, household pal Rick Sass stated.
Just some 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 reduce human stays out of its stomach greater than 70 miles from the place she vanished.
Authorities had been in a position to ID Monfore from the physique’s fingerprints, in accordance with 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 concern within the water,” Sass informed The Publish.
Sass and his spouse Kim – who ran a dive store collectively for greater than 40 years – examined images from the dive, spoke with Mike at size concerning the incident and reviewed information from his dive pc.
The buddies are adamant Monfore, who Rick Sass stated 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 ft down and possibly had half a tank of air left, he stated.
“There was a down present on the turnaround web site, nevertheless it was manageable,” Kim Sass wrote in a Fb put up. “I’ve simply completed 1000+ dive[s] with this gracious girl … I don’t imagine it was the atmosphere and positively not a shark that ended her life.”
Rick Sass added: “They dove huge numbers of journeys with us over 30 years. Bali, Philippines, Bikini Atoll, you identify 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.
They’d two children and, finally, 4 grandkids, however they by no means stopped touring the world and exploring the seas collectively. “They had been each retired and actually having fun with life,” Rick Sass stated.
“We used to name her ‘Saint Colleen.’ She was a tremendous 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 in opposition to divers are extraordinarily uncommon.
“And sharks usually are not that manner. 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 yr, in accordance with the Florida Museum of Pure Historical past’s Worldwide Shark Assault File, and 94% of these had been on snorkelers, waders, and surfers. The remaining 6% are categorized as “different.”
It’s not but clear how precisely Colleen Monfore died. Grisly images from the scene present the shark in query reduce open — with human stays in a black wetsuit close by.
“The shark was caught nevertheless it was not in regular well being. I believed it had swallowed plastic or a fishing internet,” the fisherman stated, in accordance with Asia Pacific Press. “It was reduce open to seek out the issue and inside there have been the stays of a girl.”
Rick Sass stated her husband has been struggling not solely along with her demise 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 stated. “He’s answering telephone calls in the course of the evening, and speaking to us in the course of the day, and never simply not having the ability to sleep due to this horrible factor that occurred.”
Indonesian authorities stated an investigation is underway.