By Le Figaro with AFP
Published
37 minutes ago,
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The 30-year-old woman was bitten by a shark while she was sailing on a catamaran. She lost a leg and died a few hours later.
A German tourist died Monday night after being attacked by a shark about 500 kilometers (310 miles) off the Spanish Canary Islands, sea rescue services told AFP. The 30-year-old woman was bitten by a shark while she was sailing a catamaran Monday afternoon, 278 miles southwest of the island of Gran Canaria.
The tragedy occurred in the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Africa: the young woman, who was sailing aboard the British catamaran “Dalliance Chichester”lost a leg when a shark attacked her. Spanish rescuers were notified at 2:55 p.m. that they needed to “a medical evacuation” and, after requesting Moroccan help, they decided to send a helicopter and a Spanish army plane to come to the aid of the crew of the catamaran.
Died of cardiac arrest
The victim boarded the helicopter at around 8:00 p.m. and died of cardiac arrest while being evacuated to hospital in Las Palmas, the capital of Gran Canaria, emergency services said. According to specialist website vesselfinder.com, the “Dalliance Chichester”a 17-metre pleasure boat, left the port of Las Palmas on Saturday 14 September.
Shark attacks are very rare in this area. According to a study published in February by the International Shark Attack File (ISAF), a database of the University of Florida (United States), shark attacks increased in 2023 across the world with 69 bites “unprovoked” shark attacks worldwide, compared to 63 in 2022. These attacks, more than half of which (36) took place in the United States, resulted in 10 deaths. Four deaths were recorded in Australia, two in the United States and one each in the Bahamas, Egypt, Mexico and France (in New Caledonia).
In its study, ISAF distinguishes between attacks “unprovoked” of those said “provoked”namely bites occurring after a human intentionally approaches a shark or swims in an area where bait is used to attract fish. Only attacks “unprovoked” were included in the balance sheet, after being identified via press articles.
