A PARADISE island in the Indian Ocean is so infested with sharks that swimming and surfing have been banned over fears of attacks.

Sharks prowling the waters off Réunion Island near the coast of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean have killed ten people over the last decade.

The French territory has the highest rate of fatal shark attacks in the world with 3 deaths per on million people- more than three times that of South Africa and vastly more than the United States and Australia.

Bull sharks – large and powerful creatures which can live in both salt and fresh water – are believed to be behind 90% of the deadly bites.

Surfing and swimming have been banned outside of the island's relatively safe coral lagoon due to fears of attacks since 2013.

And now scientists are attempting to work out what is driving the bloodbath.

Professor Erwann Lagabrielle has made it his mission to figure out why the waters around Réunion are so dangerous, reports 9News.

His research shows the probability of being attacked by a shark at Réunion increased "by a factor of 23" since the 1980s.

And he was inspired to figure out the island's shark riddle after witnessing his friend being attacked by a two-metre bull shark in 2015.

While the pals were swimming at Saint-Leu, Dr Lagabrielle saw his friend Erwann Lagabrielle get attacked just 20 metres from him.

The water was white foam and then the white turned to pink and the pink turned to red," he said.

"I swam to my friend and that was the most freighting thing — I was swimming against my own instinct."

What is a bull shark?

BULL sharks are believed to be responsible for nine out of ten attacks in the waters around Réunion Island – and are one of the most dangerous sharks in the world.

Length– 7 to 13feet

Weight – 200 to 600lbs

Average lifespan – 16 years

Range – 700miles

Territory – North & South America, Africa, Australia & South East Asia

Teeth – 350

Bite force – 5,914 newtons

Dr Lagabrielle found his pal had been bitten on the arm and he made a makeshift tourniquest from his surfboard leash.

Managing to stop the bleeding, he then dragged him back to shore.

His friend, 45, survived the attack – but lost his arm.

"The question, next is what can explain this increase?" Dr Lagabrielle said as he continues his studies into the spike in shark attacks.

"It's either an increase in the population of sharks or a change in their behaviour.

"These can be explained by other factors such as change in water temperature, fishing targeting shark populations."

Some 30 people have been killed and 56 have been attacked while swimming off Réunion since 1913 – with eleven fatalities since 2006.

The island is found on a so-called "shark highway" in the Indian Ocean between Australia and South Africa.

Theories have suggested its active volcano Piton de la Fournaise could be helping to draw in the sharks.

Marine ecologist Michael Heithaus believes bull sharks could be taking advantage of cloudy waters caused by volcanic sediment washing down the slopes.

Réunion Island's government has attempted measures such as culls and investing in anti-shark studies in an attempt to get a handle of the attacks.

Some of the most recent suspected attacks include the British man Richard Martyn Turner,44, whose severed hand was found inside of a tiger shark in November 2019.

Kim Mahbouli, 28, a French tourist, was attacked and killed by a shark while surfing in an area in which swimming was banned in May 2019.

And meanwhile fisherman Floris Huet died after a shark ripped off his left leg while he was with friends in January 2019.

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