Augustus, I found this newspaper archived article about the 1993 shark attack. The can click on the "how to search GSAF data" and access the Global Shark Attacks records. They are quite interesting.
THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS, June 15, 1993
June 15, 1993, Tuesday, HOME FINAL EDITION
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 1A
LENGTH: 861 words
HEADLINE: Allen woman dies in possible shark attack Body of youth corps
official found at Mexican resort after she disappeared during dive
BYLINE: Todd J. Gillman, Staff Writer of The Dallas Morning News
BODY:
Mary Eggemeyer, head of the Dallas Youth Services Corps, died in a possible
shark attack last week during a diving trip to Mexico.
Ms. Eggemeyer, 42, of Allen disappeared during a night dive Friday 200 meters
offshore at Cozumel, a resort island south of Cancun. Her mutilated body washed
onto a beach Saturday.
If confirmed as a shark attack, it would be the first at Cozumel since
record-keeping began this century. The area is popular with divers, and shark
sightings are rare.
"No one saw a shark. The only indication we have of a shark is the
nature of the wounds,' said Bryan Wilson, a spokesman for the Cozumel mayor.
"It's a real tragedy, and it's not anything that any of us ever imagined in
our worst nightmare,' said Hugh Robinson, chairman of the services corps, which
teaches job skills to young adults. "We will obviously continue on. We would
not do any less because that's what Mary would want.'
Ms. Eggemeyer was on the weeklong trip with six students and five parents and
teachers of the Winston School, where one of her three children was a student.
She is a former board member of the Dallas school, which serves 150 students
with dyslexia and attention-deficit disorder.
The trip was not officially sanctioned but has become an annual ritual, said
Rita Sherbenou, head of the Winston School. "We're a very close group of
people,' Dr. Sherbenou said. "It's so tragic. She was such a dynamic woman
that has given so much to the Dallas community.'
Ms. Eggemeyer and the others in her group, along with an American instructor
and a local guide, were making their second dive at a popular site known as
Santa Rosa Shallows, where divers descend to a sandy shelf.
The excursion started about 6 p.m. Friday. Ms. Eggemeyer disappeared in the
dark about 7:30 p.m.
"The dive plan was to go to a depth of 60 feet for 40 minutes,' Mr. Wilson
said.
Ms. Eggemeyer was the last diver to enter the water. By then, she had
drifted slightly past the ledge, where the sea floor drops off.
The American instructor reported that -- as he returned another wayward diver
to the boat -- he saw Ms. Eggemeyer swimming without difficulty back to the
ledge.
But within moments, Mr. Wilson said, "The local dive guide came to surface
saying he saw a dive light going over the ledge very fast.'
After a head count found Ms. Eggemeyer missing, eight vessels in the area
joined a search that continued until early the next morning.
"Mary was an experienced diver. She had been to Cozumel five times, and this
was her fourth dive on this trip,' Mr. Wilson said.
Her remains were found floating near a beach Saturday morning about 8:30, Mr.
Wilson said.
"Her body had been mutilated, both legs cut off at the buttocks area. The
left arm was missing, and there was severe damage to the abdominal cavity,' he
said.
The local coroner "believes that a large predator was involved.' Funeral
arrangements are pending an autopsy in Mexico.
It was "very likely' a shark, said George Burgess, a senior biologist at
the Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville and director of the
International Shark Attack File, which documents shark attacks worldwide,
dating to the 1700s.
Mr. Burgess will be in Cozumel on Tuesday to help Mexican authorities.
Mayor German Garcia Padilla has ordered temporary suspension of night dives
but has not closed the beaches, Mr. Wilson said.
The Mexican navy and local dive operators have been patrolling a stretch of
beach on the west side of the island.
Along with police and sailors on shore, they are warning bathers to stay
within 50 meters of land.
The hunt involving five boats with experienced Mexican shark fishermen
aboard will center on the Santa Rosa Shallows.
"According to the experts, if he's fed there once, he'll probably come back
and feed there again,' Mr. Wilson said.
"Our intention is not to go out and start slaughtering sharks wholesale,'
he said. "We're looking for one particular shark.'
Because shark sightings are extremely rare in those waters, "it is a
logical assumption' that any shark in the area is a killer, he said.
Mr. Burgess dismissed the theory raised after some recent attacks in
Australia that population pressures are forcing sharks closer to shore than
usual.
" Shark attacks are a natural phenomenon that occur irregularly,' he said.
Officials in Cozumel, which has 60,000 full-time residents and 3,500 hotel
beds, said they want to investigate swiftly to quell tourists' fears.
Ed Fjordbak, president of the Communities Foundation of Texas, where Ms.
Eggemeyer worked until the youth corps was formed three years ago, said Ms.
Eggemeyer left a substantial legacy.
"Through this project, several hundred kids now have jobs and opportunities.
. . . It's a great loss to the community.'
The corps helps inner-city youths ages 18 to 23. The youths construct trails
through city parks or rehabilitate buildings for use by seniors, the disabled or
other service groups.
"Mary lived her life by that,' said a longtime friend and colleague, Kimberly
Floyd. "She's really carried the baton in our community for young people who
fell through the cracks.'
GRAPHIC: PHOTO(S): Mary Eggemeyer . . . disappeared while diving Friday. MAP(S):
POSSIBLE shark attack. (DMN)
