14 February 2025 , 17:25
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A tourist is thought to have lost both her hands in a shark attack after trying to ‘engage’ with the animal for a photo.
The Canadian woman, named locally as Nathalie Ross, 55, was attacked in shallow waters off Thompson’s Cove Beach on the Turks and Caicos Islands in the Caribbean at around 10.30am on February 7.
It’s believed her husband attempted to fight the shark off, before she was brought to shore.
Photos show Ms Ross lying on the beach as her husband and others try to stem the bleeding.
Magnetic Media reports the woman lost both her hands and was also bitten on her thigh.
She was airlifted to hospital and is expected to survive.
‘The shark was estimated to be approximately 6ft in length, however the species is yet to be confirmed,’ the Turks & Caicos Islands Government said in a statement, reports Miami Herald.
Ms Ross is looked after by her husband and others shortly after the attack
Ms Ross being taken to an ambulance
‘It has been determined that the tourist had attempted to engage with the animal from the shallows in an attempt to take photographs.’
Thompson’s Cove Beach is in the Blue Hills settlement, on the north side of Providenciales, the nation’s main island.
Government officials closed the beach until midday February 9, after it was determined the shark had moved to deeper water.
Footage has since been shared of a shark thrashing about in the water near where the attack happened.
The waters around the Turks and Caicos Islands are home to a variety of shark species, including tiger sharks, bull sharks, hammerhead sharks and reef sharks, according to Visit Turks & Caicos Islands.
Earlier this month a teenage girl was killed by a shark near Brisbane in Australia.
Charlize Zmuda, 17, was swimming off Woorim Beach on Bribie Island, Queensland when she was killed.
It was the second fatal shark attack in Australia this year, after Lance Appleby, 28, was killed while surfing off Granites Beach in South Australia.
News of the recent Turks and Caicos Islands mauling comes as a new report reveals there were almost half the amount of shark attacks on humans last year than the previous year.
The were 69 attacks worldwide in 2023 and 47 in 2024, according to the International Shark Attack File, maintained by the Florida Museum of Natural History in the US.
Four of last year’s shark attacks resulted in fatalities, compared to 10 in 2023 and five in 2022, the report showed.