Tourist has both hands bitten off by 6ft shark after trying to get snap with animal
The attack comes after the Cayman Islands, 633 miles southwest of Turks and Caicos, issued a warning about feeding sharks last November.
Tourist has both hands bitten off by 6ft shark after trying to get snap with animal
Tim Hanlon & Iona YoungFri 14 February 2025 at 4:40 pm GMT·2-min read
-Credit:Reach Publishing Services Limited
A tourist had both of her hands bitten off by a six foot shark after reportedly engaging with the animal for a picture.
The horror incident took place on February 7 when the unnamed woman, thought to be Canadian, was bitten by the predator while on a dream break in the Turks and Caicos islands. She is believed to have been just a few yards from the shore when the attack took place.
The 55-year-old woman is said to have “attempted to engage” with the shark and take a photo of it, according to local authorities. People on the beach said the woman’s husband went to her aid and tried to stop the shark as it continued to circle around her.
Images show the woman on the ground with people around her trying to stop the bleeding from her arms. More shocking footage from another tourist showed a shark nearby swimming in the sea, while a witness on the beach said the shark could be seen in the water for around 40 minutes, reports the Mirror.
The Turks and Caicos Islands Government said in a news release: “The shark was estimated to be approximately 6ft in length. However the species is yet to be confirmed. It has been determined that the tourist had attempted to engage with the animal from the shallows in an attempt to take photographs.”
Authorities confirmed the attack took place off Thompson’s Cove Beach in Providenciales at around 10.30am on February 7. It is reported that the woman had one of her hands amputated at her wrist and the other halfway down her forearm. She is recovering back in Canada.
The attack comes after the Cayman Islands, 633 miles southwest of Turks and Caicos, issued a warning about feeding sharks last November. Authorities said sharks were being attracted by divers and people in the water due to expecting food.
A statement from the Department for the Environment on the Cayman Islands read: "Feeding sharks has been illegal in Cayman waters since 2002 because of the known risks of injury for both divers and sharks.
"Some people believe feeding sharks is great for business or will increase tips from customers, and some even mistakenly believe that conditioning sharks to take speared lionfish will somehow teach them to hunt lionfish out of reef crevices. But teaching sharks to take food from divers only really endangers both humans and sharks."
