The brother-in-law of a woman who had her hands bitten off by a shark has described how the horrific attack unfolded, as a fundraiser has been launched to support the victim and her family.
The Canadian couple ‘lived what can only be described as a nightmare’ during what was meant to be a relaxing holiday to the Turks and Caicos Islands earlier this month, their relative said.
The 55-year-old woman had left the beach to join her husband ‘in only hip deep clear water’ when the predator, believed to be a seven-foot bull shark, launched its vicious attack, he said.
The relative described in chilling detail how the shark bumped into the helpless woman’s legs before circling around her and biting her thigh.
‘Not satisfied, the shark came back again and when she put both hands in front of her to protect herself, the shark cut off both of her hands, one at mid-forearm and the other at the wrist,’ he said.
The woman’s horrified husband is said to have rushed to help her, placing himself between his wife and the shark and managing to wrestle the beast and get it away from her ‘until she walked out of the water and collapsed on the beach’.
Harrowing pictures show how a crowd then gathered around the injured woman after she made it back to the beach, with cloths being held onto her arms as they apparently tried to stem the bleeding.
Shocking pictures show people who appear to be the woman’s family helping to stem the blood flow as she lies injured on the beach
Eerie footage taken from a beachside villa and shared by a tourist shows a shark thrashing about in the shallow waters nearby
The severely injured victim was given first aid on the beach before paramedics took her to a local hospital for treatment.
The victim suffered life-changing injuries losing both of her hands, with one reportedly amputated at the wrist and the other part-way up her forearm, but her wounded leg is said to have been saved.
She was later flown back to Canada by air ambulance for further surgery and recovery, her brother-in-law shared.
He said his brother and sister-in-law’s lives had been ‘completely altered… in the blink of an eye,’ and asked that people contribute to the fundraiser he set up to support them through the horrific experience.
Local authorities claimed last week that the woman had ‘engaged’ with the shark and attempted to take pictures of it, but this has since been denied by witnesses who said the attack was unprovoked.
Police and environmental officials confirmed the attack which occurred in the waters off Thompson’s Cove Beach in central Providenciales at around 10.30 am on Friday, February 7.
They advised the public to remain out of the ocean until the all-clear was issued.
Royal Turks and Caicos Police said that medical personnel and cops were dispatched to the scene near the neighbourhood of Blue Hills, Providenciales.
They added that the victim was brought ashore and rushed to the Cheshire Hall Medical Centre for treatment.
Unconfirmed reports online have suggested it was a bull shark which attacked the woman (file photo)
Shark bites in the waters off the Turks and Caicos islands are relatively rare, with only one unprovoked attack reported last year which was non-fatal, according to Florida Museum of Natural History’s International Shark Attack File (ISAF).
In 2023 an American woman had her foot bitten off by a shark while snorkeling off the archipelago.
The 22-year-old, from Connecticut, was celebrating her graduation from Yale University with her friend on the island when the horror attack happened, a local source told Dailymail.com.
Tragically, her foot could not be reattached because an emergency aircraft took six hours to arrive.
Royal Turks and Caicos Police said that medical personnel and cops were dispatched to the scene in Blue Hills, Providenciales
The habitat around the islands is home to multiple types of sharks, including grey reef sharks, nurse sharks, tiger sharks, bull sharks, and hammerhead sharks.
The ISAF said in a statement this week that ‘2024 was an exceptionally calm year for shark bites. Worldwide, there were only 47 unprovoked attacks, down 22 from the previous year and well below the 10-year average of 70.’
Turks and Caicos was a British colonial possession and at various times was governed as part of Jamaica or the Bahamas.
It has had its own government since 1976 and was officially labelled a British Overseas Territory in 2002.
The GoFundMe page where you can donate to support the victim and her husband can be found here.