One swimmer was bitten in the water south of Governor's Beach on Friday, the third such incident on that stretch of Seven Mile Beach since 12 August, and a Department of Environment (DoE) officer searching the shoreline by drone told The Caymanian Journal (TCJ) that the department did not yet know what had occurred.

The Cayman Islands Coast Guard ordered bathers out of the water south of Governor's Beach after the incident. Visitors on the beach told TCJ they had no warning until they were called ashore, and only then learned that someone had been bitten. The number of people injured and their condition had not been confirmed by the authorities at the time of publication.

The incident follows two bites in the same area in August, after which the DoE's marine unit located and removed a barracuda it said had been "observed to exhibit unusual behaviour". No further incidents had been reported in the seven weeks since.

Visitors called out of the water

Kadie, a Canadian visitor to Cayman travelling with her daughter Tesa, was in the water when the Coast Guard arrived. She said the pair were not aware that anything had happened until officers told them to come out. It was only then, she said, that they learned a swimmer had been bitten.

DoE officer on scene for two hours

A DoE officer was on the beach on Friday operating a drone over the water in an effort to locate the fish. Speaking to TCJ around two hours into the search, he said the department was not yet aware of what had occurred and would have to investigate what was going on. The department had not identified the species involved by the time of publication.

Drone imaging formed part of the DoE's response to the first August incident. In an update issued on 14 August, CIG Communications said the department was "continuing in-water surveillance and drone imaging of the area" after two international marine bite specialists it had consulted independently concluded that the first bite was not from a shark and was more likely from a barracuda.

The August incidents

The first bite was reported on 12 August, when a visitor was injured in the water off Governor's Beach and taken to hospital by the emergency services. The Government described the injury as "non-life-threatening" and said marine specialists believed it was most likely an accidental encounter with a predatory fish during a feeding event. The following day CIG Communications said the visitor had been treated by the Health Services Authority, was under observation and was expected to make a full recovery.

The second bite came on 24 August, when another visitor was injured in the water near Governor's Beach and taken to hospital. The DoE's marine unit and the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service (RCIPS) air operations unit responded together to locate and remove the fish involved. On 25 August CIG Communications said the marine unit had that morning "located and removed a barracuda that had been behaving unusually", and that conservation officers would continue monitoring the area on regular patrols.

The Government said then that injuries from marine life are rare in Cayman waters and urged the public to stay alert and to use extreme caution entering the water near the incident while the response continued. It said further information would follow as it became available.

A DoE representative at the scene told TCJ on Friday that the department had nothing to share at that point in time. The DoE had not issued a further statement on the incident by the time of publication.