MA Woman Killed In Shark Attack ID'ed By Police

BOSTON, MA — A Boston area woman has been identified after she was killed in a shark attack Mondaywhile visiting the Bahamas, according to the Royal Bahamas Police Force.

Lauren Erickson Van Wart, 44, was a math editor and longtime employee of Curriculum Associates, a North Billerica company that provides resources for teachers, according to her LinkedIn profile. Multiple sources say Van Wart is a resident of Lowell.

"Our team is heartbroken and grieving the loss of a dear and trusted colleague and friend," Curriculum Associated CEO Rob Waldron said in a statement to media outlets including Boston25.

The attack occurred around 11:15 a.m. while Van Wart was paddleboarding with a relative away from the shoreline behind a resort in western New Providence, according to police. Authorities have not said what type of shark attacked her.

A resort lifeguard on duty rushed to the site of the attack in a rescue boat, pulled Van Wart and her relative from the water, and brought them to safety while administering CPR to the woman, police said.

Emergency medical technicians examined Van Wart at the scene, determining that she suffered severe trauma on the right side of her body and showed no signs of life, according to police.

Gavin Naylor, program director of the International Shark Attack File in Florida, said in an interview that there have been a couple of shark-related deaths reported in the Bahamas in the past five years.

He noted that the Bahamas has a "huge" tourist population, adding that there are a lot of people in the water and a lot of visitors who want to view sharks from a fishing boat or dive with them.

"So the sharks get acclimated, and the animals are a little bit less cautious than they otherwise might be," he said.

Between 30 to 40 shark species live around the Bahamas, although the Caribbean reef shark, the bull shark, the tiger shark and the black tip shark have the highest bite frequency, Naylor said.

"Usually, it’s an accidental bite. They think it’s something else," he said. "Once in a while, they’ll actually single out people, and it’s very intentional."

Fatal shark attacks are rare, with only an average of five to six reported worldwide a year, most of them occurring in Australia, Naylor said. Last year, there were a total of 57 unprovoked bites around the globe, the majority of them in the U.S., according to the International Shark Attack File.

At least 33 confirmed unprovoked shark attacks have been reported in the Bahamas since 1580, with the island ranking ninth worldwide, according to the file.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.