Shark attacks newlywed woman in sea near luxury five-star hotel resort
Police officers walk on the beach after what police described as a fatal shark attack against a tourist at Sandals Royal Bahamian resort, in Nassau, Bahamas
Reuters
A newlywed has been killed by a large shark while paddleboarding in the Bahamas.
The 44-year-old unnamed American woman was in the water near the five-star resort where she was staying.
She was in the water with her new husband about three-quarters of a mile off the Sandals Royal Bahamian Resort on Monday when they were attacked.
A jet ski operator who was on the beach at the time said he saw a shark, measuring about 14ft-long, pull the paddleboard underwater.
A jet ski operator who was on the beach at the time said he saw a shark, measuring about 14ft long, pull the paddleboard underwater
Reuters
Speaking to local newspaper The Nassau Guardian, the operator said: "When I saw it was only the guy standing on the board, I said (to myself), she must have fallen off.
"Then you could actually hear the faint shouts of him screaming for help,"
“It was crazy because I watched them push out from the beach.
"They [were] side by side and laughing and talking. They just got married yesterday."
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The attack happened just half a mile from where a 21-year-old Californian woman, Jordan Lindsey, was killed by a shark in 2019
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Royal Bahamas Police Force officer Sgt Desiree Ferguson said: "CPR was administered to the victim, however she suffered serious injuries to the right side of her body, including the right hip region and also her right upper limb."
Eyewitnesses reported the attack and went out in a rescue boat to retrieve the victim and her husband.
It was reported there was blood on the paddleboard and the shark was swimming around it.
In a statement, the Sandals resort said: “We are deeply saddened by the tragic passing of a guest while on a paddleboarding activity nearly a mile from the shore."
A spokesperson from the Sandals resort paid tribute to the victim
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Shark attacks that lead to death are highly unusual, but not unheard of in the area.
A 47-year-old German woman went missing in an apparent TIger Shark attack while on a diving trip off the island of Grand Bahama in an area called Tiger Beach last month.
The chances of being killed by a shark is about one in four million.
There was nine fatal attacks in 2021, 10 in 2020, two in 2019 and four in 2018, according to the International Shark Attack File, who argued the number of shark attacks has grown as the global population has increased and as more people spend time in the water.