36-year-old surfer dies after being impaled by sharp-billed fish

A 36 year old Italian surfer died after being impaled by a sharp billed fish while surfing in west Indonesia. Giulia Manfrini suffered a freak acc...

A 36-year-old Italian surfer died after being impaled by a sharp-billed fish while surfing in west Indonesia.

Giulia Manfrini suffered a "freak accident” while surfing in the Mentawai Islands, a remote island chain, said James Colston, who along with Manfrini co-founded the travel agency Awave.

"Unfortunately, even with the brave efforts of her partner, local resort staff and doctors, Giulia couldn’t be saved,” Colston said Sunday in his statement on Instagram. "We believe she died doing what she loved, in a place that she loved.”

Lahmudin Siregar, acting head of the Mentawai Islands Regional Disaster Management Agency, told Indonesian news agency Antara that a swordfish leapt toward Manfrini and struck her in the chest, leaving her with a five-centimeter cut.

The Hidden Bay Resort Mentawais said in a statement that Manfrini, whom it called a "client and friend,” was "surfing one of the friendliest waves in the region” when she was "hit in the chest” by a fish and "died almost immediately.”