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11 months ago
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A Boston newlywed was mauled to death by a shark while paddle boarding at a Sandals resort in the Bahamas the day after her wedding.
The unidentified 44 year-old was killed at 11:15am local time Monday morning while three quarters of a mile off the coast of the five-star Sandals Royal Bahamian Resort with an unidentified male relative.
Her paddleboard was pictured floating in the water afterwards. The victim suffered horrific injuries to the right hand side of her body, and attempts to revive her with CPR were unsuccessful. She had only gotten married the day before the horror, WCVB reported.
Debra DeWeese, who spent part of Monday in the $1,500-a-night resort, said other beachgoers had told her they'd heard the woman's screams as she was attacked.
Grim photos and video shared afterwards showed the victim's covered body being brought back to the beach on a gurney, before being loaded into an ambulance.
Mortuary services personnel transport the body of a female tourist after what police described as a fatal shark attack in waters near Sandals Royal Bahamian resort
The woman's paddleboard is pictured floating in the water off the Sandals resort after Monday morning's fatal shark attack
The newlywed's body is loaded into a van by local police after Monday's tragedy
Royal Bahamian Police Sergeant Desiree Ferguson told reporters: 'Shortly after 11:15 a.m. police were notified that a female visitor from Boston, Massachusetts, USA was attacked by a shark.
'According to our initial reports, the female along, with a male relative were paddle boarding just at the rear of a resort in Western New Providence, some 3/4 miles out from the shoreline when she was bitten by the shark.
'A lifeguard on duty who saw what was happening went out in a rescue boat, retrieved the victim, along with the male relative and brought them to safety 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.
'Emergency Medical Services responded to this scene they thoroughly assessed the victim and they declared that she show she showed no vital signs of life.'
She added that it took a couple of hours to pull the woman in, before they took a wheelchair out to gather the man believed to be her husband.
'I can’t imagine what the husband is going through,' DeWeese - who was on a day pass from a cruise - added in a Facebook post.
Emergency services are seen gathered on a pier off the Sandals resort on Monday after the fatal shark mauling
Sandals Royal Bahamian Resort is a five-star complex, where rooms cost around $1,500-a-night in peak season
DeWeese noted that 'the staff and some guests are a bit traumatized.'
Police said a lifeguard rescued both people with a boat upon seeing what was happening, but the woman suffered serious injuries to the right side of her body and was declared dead at the scene despite CPR efforts.
It was not immediately clear what type of shark attacked the woman, although tiger sharks and bull sharks are known to live off the coast of the Bahamas. A police superintendent did not immediately respond to a message requesting comment.
Gavin Naylor, program director of the International Shark Attack File in Florida, said in an interview that there have been several shark-related fatalities reported in the Bahamas in the past five years.
He noted that the Bahamas has a 'huge' tourist population, adding that there are a lot of people in the water and a lot of visitors who want to view sharks from a fishing boat or dive with them.
'So the sharks get acclimated, and the animals are a little bit less cautious than they otherwise might be,' he said.
The victim, who was not identified, was attacked less than a mile off the western end of New Providence island, where the capital, Nassau, is located
She was paddleboarding with a man - believed to be her husband - who was not injured, according to Police Sgt. Desiree Ferguson
Between 30 to 40 shark species live around the Bahamas, although the Caribbean reef shark, the bull shark, the tiger shark and the black tip shark have the highest bite frequency, Naylor said.
'Usually, it´s an accidental bite. They think it´s something else,' he said. 'Once in a while, they´ll actually single out people, and it´s very intentional.'
Fatal shark attacks are rare, with only an average of five to six reported worldwide a year, most of them occurring in Australia, Naylor said.
Last year, there were a total of 57 unprovoked bites around the globe, the majority of them in the U.S., according to the International Shark Attack File.
Debra DeWeese, a woman visiting the resort who posted photos from the scene afterwards, told DailyMail.com that her fellow vacationers could hear the woman's screams all the way from land
Police said a lifeguard rescued both people with a boat upon seeing what was happening, but the woman suffered serious injuries to the right side of her body and was declared dead at the scene despite CPR efforts
At least 33 confirmed unprovoked shark attacks have been reported in the Bahamas since 1580, with the island ranking ninth worldwide, according to the file.
The Nassau Guardian newspaper reported that authorities in the Bahamas are still searching for a German woman who went missing late last month after she was apparently attacked while diving.
Last year, a shark killed a U.S. cruise ship passenger from Pennsylvania who was snorkeling in the northern Bahamas near Green Cay.
Most shark attacks in the Caribbean occur in the Bahamas, although a rare shark attack was reported in the French Caribbean territory of St. Martin three years ago.
English (US)