German tourist dies after shark attack off Canary Islands while sailing on catamaran

A German tourist died Monday evening after being attacked by a shark about 500 kilometres off the Spanish Canary Islands, sea rescue services told AFP.

The 30-year-old woman was bitten by a shark while sailing a catamaran on 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.

The catamaran left the port of Las Palmas on September 14

Spanish emergency services were notified at 2:55 p.m. (12:55 p.m. GMT) that it was necessary “a medical evacuation” and, after requesting Moroccan assistancethey decided to send a helicopter and a Spanish army plane to come to the aid of the crew of the catamaran.

The victim boarded the helicopter at around 8:00 p.m. (6:00 p.m. GMT) and died of cardiac arrest while being evacuated to hospital in Las Palmas – the capital of Gran Canaria – emergency services said.

According to the 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.

Shark attacks on the rise

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” sharks in the world, compared to 63 in 2022.

These attacks, more than half of which (36) took place in the United States, left 10 dead: 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.