What should have been a lovely holiday experience turned into a nightmare for one tourist who got too close to a shark.
A woman has both of her hands amputated after she tried to take a picture with a shark while holidaying in the Caribbean.
The tourist wasn’t far off the shore when she tried to take a picture of the shark, estimated to be about six to nine feet long. Authorities have said she was in hip-deep water on a beach on Providenciales, the main island in the Turks and Caicos archipelago.
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The incident took place on Friday last week (February 7), at the eastern end of Blue Hills Beach near Da Conch Shack and Thompson's Cove Beach, and the shark in question is believed to be a bull shark or a tiger shark.
Following the attack, she was taken to a medical centre and had one of her hands amputated at the wrist and the other mid-way down her forearm.
Witnesses, who attempted to assist the woman after the attack, have spoken out about the horrifying ordeal.
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One witness said the woman’s family was close by when the attack happened, and she was even able to walk back to shore after being beaten.
Her husband attempted to fight back the shark as it continued to attempt to bite her. A crowd of people also used cloths on her arms to try and stem the bleeding.
Another witness said the shark remained thrashing about in the shallow waters after the attack saying: “I was there for 40 minutes, and it was still lingering.”
The Department of Environment & Coastal Resources Authorities issued the following statement on the incident: "On Friday 7th February a tourist was injured by a shark in the waters adjacent to Blue Hills, Providenciales.
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"The individual was taken to Cheshire Hall Medical Centre where she was stabilized and later flown off island for further medical care.
"Upon confirmation of the incident the Department of Environment & Coastal Resources (DECR) issued a beach closure notification from Thompson’s Cove Beach to Froggies ATV, Blue Hills in an abundance of caution. The beach was reopened on Sunday, February 9th at 1pm after it was determined that the shark had moved to deeper water."
The Department of Environment and Coastal Resources Authorities closed their message by warning other tourists from taking similar actions due to the inherent danger of interacting with these animals.
Gerrard Kaonga