ONE OF SEVEN Venezuelan men whose boat capsized near Aruba died after he was attacked by a shark while being rescued, the Dutch Caribbean Coast Guard said Monday.
Two other men perished when they sank with the vessel.
Spokesman Roderick Gouverneur said that the shark attacked the man as he was clinging to a rescue buoy and a member of the Coast Guard suspended from a helicopter was trying to rescue him.
He said the man died Saturday on the way to the hospital.
Four other men who survived by holding on to a refrigerator and pallet were hospitalised in Aruba for dehydration.
The men were travelling from Bonaire to Aruba to sell whiskey when their boat capsized after it was hit by a wave, Gouverneur said.
Venezuelans often travel on boats laden with goods to sell throughout the Dutch Caribbean islands.
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