An Indian-origin private equity manager from New York, US has died while scuba diving, NYPost reports.
49-year-old Rohina Bhandari, a senior director at the Manhattan firm WL Ross & Co. LLC was fatally mauled by a tiger shark while scuba diving on an island off the coast of Costa Rica.
She was part of a group of 18 tourists visiting the Cocos Island National Park, located over 340 miles off the Costa Rican coast.
Bhandari was ascending to the surface at the Manuelita dive site when her 26-year-old diving guide noticed the shark, which he described as a female tiger shark.
The guide, identified only by his last name Jim tried to scare the shark off, but it was too late. The shark mauled Bhandari, leaving severe bites on both of her legs, Costa Rica's Ministry of Environment and Energy said in the news release.
Another person on the surface helped repel the shark as it attacked Bhandari's diving instructor.
The guide sustained a shark bite on one of his legs, but survived.
A team of doctors on site treated Jim and confirmed the death of Bhandari, the ministry said.
Bhandari's family hails from Bangalore in India. She studied finance at George Washington University and lived on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. The New York Daily News described her as "a regular presence on the Manhattan charity circuit."
