Surfer Dead After Reported Swordfish Attack: Giulia Manfrini Was 36

Italian surfer Giulia Manfrini has died after being impaled in the chest by swordfish in Indonesia. The 36-year-old was reportedly surfing on Masokut Island in the Mentawai Islands on Friday, Oct. 18 when the fish “unexpectedly jumped towards Manfrini and pierced her chest,” Lahmudin Siregar, acting head of the Mentawai Islands Regency Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD), told news agency Antara, according to the BBC.

Siregar confirmed that “the information we received from the Head of Southwest Siberut District was that an accident occurred with an Italian citizen while surfing.” Manfrini reportedly suffered a “five-centimeter deep stab wound on the left side of her chest” in the incident, and two witnesses attempted to render aid, the London Evening Standard reported. Manfrini was transported to a local medical center, where she succumbed to her injuries.

Manfrini’s cause of death has not been ruled at this time, but citing a medical report, Stab Magazine reported that Manfrini’s nose was foaming after the incident, “suggesting oxygen deprivation from drowning.” Her death was announced a day after the tragic incident by her business partner James Colston, with whom she co-founded the travel agency company AWAVE Travel.

“Giulia was surfing in remote Indonesia and suffered a freak accident. Unfortunately, even with the brave efforts of her partner, local resort staff and doctors, Giulia couldn’t be saved,” Colston wrote on the company’s Instagram. “We believe she died doing what she loved, in a place that she loved.”

Colston went on to remember Manfrini as “the lifeblood of this company,” adding that “her infectious enthusiasm for surf, snow and life will be remembered by all that came in contact with her… Anyone was lucky to have her on board a charter or surf trip!” The statement concluded, “We value your kind words, memories of Giulia and all that she leaves behind.”

According to the AWAVE Travel website, Manfrini was a former professional snowboarder whose love of surfing “led her all over the world to chase waves.” When she wasn’t organizing trips, she could be found “waves and powder hunting, song-writing, dancing & playing beach volley!” Per her LinkedIn profile, she had traveled to 45 countries learned six languages, and lived in six different countries and four continents.

Paying tribute to her online in a translated statement shared to Facebook, Fabio Giulivi, the mayor of Manfrini’s hometown of Venaria Reale, said news of Manfrini’s passing left the community “shocked and makes us feel powerless in front of the tragedy that took her life so prematurely.” Giulivi added that the surfer had long had her “double dream of surfing, her favorite sport, and of opening a travel agency for sports holidays.”