U.S. tourist’s foot bitten off by shark in Turks and Caicos
Article content
An American woman who was snorkelling in Turks and Caicos had her foot bitten off in a shark attack.
Article content
The 22-year-old from Connecticut was in the waters with a friend outside Blue Haven Resort on the island of Providenciales when she was bitten by a shark on Wednesday, Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force said in a news release.
Article content
The British tabloid published two disturbing photos of the victim’s injuries on its website, one with her detached left foot still in its flipper.
The source told the Daily Mail that the shark was thought to be a Caribbean reef shark.
The woman and her friend had signed up for a private boat excursion and were snorkelling off Grace Bay Beach when the attack happened.
The boat captain, who was trained in first aid, dove into the water to rescue the woman, and applied a tourniquet to her leg, the Daily Mail reported.
He went back into the water to retrieve her foot, putting it on ice.
RECOMMENDED VIDEO
The severed foot could not be reattached due to the six-hour wait for an emergency aircraft to fly the woman from the island hospital to a hospital in Miami, according to the Daily Mail.
An unidentified employee described her as an “impressive young woman” who had just run a marathon in the Netherlands last week.
Unprovoked shark attacks are rare with typically around 70 to 80 reported worldwide annually over the past decade, according to an Associated Press report.
Last year, only 57 unprovoked shark bites were recorded by the University of Florida’s International Shark Attack File.
Article content
An American woman who was snorkelling in Turks and Caicos had her foot bitten off in a shark attack.
Article content
The 22-year-old from Connecticut was in the waters with a friend outside Blue Haven Resort on the island of Providenciales when she was bitten by a shark on Wednesday, Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force said in a news release.
Article content
The British tabloid published two disturbing photos of the victim’s injuries on its website, one with her detached left foot still in its flipper.
The source told the Daily Mail that the shark was thought to be a Caribbean reef shark.
The woman and her friend had signed up for a private boat excursion and were snorkelling off Grace Bay Beach when the attack happened.
The boat captain, who was trained in first aid, dove into the water to rescue the woman, and applied a tourniquet to her leg, the Daily Mail reported.
He went back into the water to retrieve her foot, putting it on ice.
RECOMMENDED VIDEO
The severed foot could not be reattached due to the six-hour wait for an emergency aircraft to fly the woman from the island hospital to a hospital in Miami, according to the Daily Mail.
An unidentified employee described her as an “impressive young woman” who had just run a marathon in the Netherlands last week.
Unprovoked shark attacks are rare with typically around 70 to 80 reported worldwide annually over the past decade, according to an Associated Press report.
Last year, only 57 unprovoked shark bites were recorded by the University of Florida’s International Shark Attack File.
