An Italian surfer and social media influencer has died after being impaled by a swordfish off the coast of Indonesia, officials said.
Giulia Manfrini, a 36-year-old surfing coach and the founder of surf travel agency AWAVE, was surfing in the waters off West Sumatra near the Mentawai Islands on Friday when the tragic freak incident occurred, ABC News Australia reported.
The swordfish “unexpectedly jumped towards Manfrini and pierced her chest,” said Lahmudin Siregar, acting head of the Mentawai Islands’ Disaster Management Agency.
Manfrini’s friends, Alexandre Ribas and Massimo Ferro, witnessed the accident and provided first aid while rushing her to the Pei Pei Pasakiat Taileleu Health Center, where she was declared dead.
It is not immediately clear if the Italian national, who had over 26,000 Instagram followers, died of drowning or the deep gash created by the swordfish.
“The victim suffered a five-centimeter wound to the left chest, and when she was found, the condition of her face showed that she had been submerged for a moment,” said KP Hadi Yasmar, head of the Criminal Investigation Unit of the Mentawai Police, according to the Sun.
“She may have drowned,” he added.
James Colston, who co-founded AWAVE with Manfrini, said she “touched countless people within the surf world.”
“Her kindness, care and positivity were remembered by all that met her and she will be dearly missed,” he said, according to ABC.
Frankie Smithurst, another surfing-industry colleague, told the Australian outlet that his friend would be remembered for her “overflowing excitement for life.”
“Giulia will be forever known by her huge heart which matched her huge smile, an extremely selfless person who truly loved life,” Smithurst said.
Officials said that Manfrini’s body is in Padang City awaiting transport back to Italy.
Fabio Giulivi, the mayor of Manfrini’s hometown of Venaria Reale, Manfrini’s hometown, expressed his condolences in a Facebook post:
“The entire Venarian community is gathering around Giulia Manfrini’s family. The news of her death has left us shocked and makes us feel powerless in front of the tragedy that took her life so prematurely,” Giulivi wrote in Italian.
“Giulia, from Venaria, only 36 years old, had long had her double dream of surfing, her favorite sport, and of opening a travel agency for sports holidays,” the mayor continued, before giving his sympathies to her parents “and all the people who loved her.”
Manfrini’s last Instagram post, shared on October 11, shows her surfing a wave in Indonesia: