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June 22, 2005
Alysha Margaret Webster, seven, of Whitianga on the Coromandel Peninsula, was killed when attacked by a shark at a beach on Malekula Island in northern Vanuatu.
She was swimming off a beach with other people on Malekula Island in the north of the South Pacific island group when the attack occurred on Wednesday afternoon.Alysha was on a yachting holiday with her parents Grant and Sheree Webster, from Whitianga on New Zealand's North Island.They had sailed to Malekula from the Vanuatu capital Port Vila.A plane chartered on Thursday by the New Zealand High Commission flew the Websters and Alysha's body back to Port Vila.Malekula is well known for shark attacks and a number of local children have been killed over the years in similar circumstances, Port Vila Presse reported.High Commissioner Paul Willis said it was customary to check with a local chief or village to see if it was safe to swim in nearby waters."In this case, I understand there were local people around, so clearly the family might have had some reason to expect that it wasn't going to be too dangerous," he said.