An American woman’s remains were discovered in the stomach of a shark after she disappeared during a diving trip on vacation in Indonesia, according to a friend of the woman.

Colleen Monfore, 68, was diving with friends near Pulau Reong Island off the coast of southwest Indonesia’s Maluku Regent on September 26 when she failed to resurface, Asia Pacific Press reported.

Two weeks after Monfore disappeared in tropical waters, a fisherman spotted a shark in distress and killed the animal. When the fisherman cut open the shark’s stomach, he likely discovered Monfore’s remains, as well as her neoprene and swimsuit.

Initial reports suggested that the shark attacked and ate Monfore, but a friend of the woman’s from Michigan says the evidence so far suggests that is likely false.

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Colleen Monfore, 68, was diving near Pulau Reong Island off the coast of southwest Indonesia’s Maluku Regency on September 26 when she failed to resurface. (Asia Pacific Press)

Kim Sass, who wrote in a Facebook post that Monfore was her “very good friend,” listed what is known about the case and how likely it is that Monfore died from a medical problem during a dive.

Sass wrote that the fisherman caught the shark around Oct. 4 near Timor-Leste, a Southeast Asian country 70 miles from the dive site where Monfore disappeared more than a week earlier.

The fisherman who caught the shark said he found the shark in distress and killed the creature. He cut open the shark’s belly and found human remains, a wetsuit and a swimsuit. (Asia Pacific Press)

According to Sass, Monfore’s remains were identifiable, which would not have been the case if the shark had eaten her at the time of her disappearance.

Rescue teams searched the tropical waters for Monfore. (Asia Pacific Press)

While it can take sharks days to fully digest a meal, a shark’s stomach produces “an acid strong enough to dissolve metal” while “large bones and other indigestible items are prevented from digesting due to the small ones in the stomach to happen”. Size of the opening to the intestine,” according to the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources.

Sass believes that the nearly eight-day period from Monfore’s disappearance to the shark’s discovery suggests that the shark ate Monfore after she was already dead.

“Colleen’s body was identifiable. Your fingerprints (re-identifiable) will be used by our U.S. Embassy and local government as proof of death,” Sass wrote. “This wouldn’t be possible if the shark had attacked her weeks ago.”

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Sass said diving information, photos and witness statements from two other divers and the group’s instructor show that Monfore was in 24 feet of water when the group turned around due to a change in current. Sass added that Monfore probably had half a tank of fuel at the time.

“There was a downward current at the turnaround point, but it was manageable,” she wrote. “I easily did more than 1,000 dives with this lovely woman. She was an excellent diver. I don’t think it was the environment and certainly not a shark that took her life.”

It remains unclear how exactly Monfore died.

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The Indonesian authorities are continuing to investigate.