G.A. Viray
Losing a loved one unexpectedly is one of the worst tragedies that could happen. Losing someone from something that makes that person happy is even much worse.
Elio Canestri, a thirteen-year-old surfing champion lost his life after being attacked by a shark while playing his favorite sport: surfing. It was an unexpected death and perhaps a painful one specially for his mother after he left a note telling her mom not to worry.
[blockquote author=”Elio Canestri”]Don’t worry, Mom,I’m going surfing. If there’s no security, I won’t surf.[/blockquote]
Giovanni, Elio’s father, told NBC that his son has always been careful. Elio would always listen to his parents and that “he analyzed danger intelligently.”
Although the tragedy was unexpected, over the past four years, there have 16 shark attacks in Reunion Island, and seven of them were fatal. What was even more tragic was Elio died in front of his other surfer friends. There have been measures to ban the area from surfers and nets have been placed to prevent the sharks from attacking. However, Elio and his friends did surf in the area where there weren’t any guards against shark attacks.
Although the surfing community is in Reunion Island is grieving for another tragic death on the island, banning people from the Surfer’s Paradise would be difficult to implement.
