A tourist was enjoying her vacation at the Turks and Caicos Islands when she was attacked by a shark off a Caribbean beach. 

The unidentified woman, who is believed to be from Canada, allegedly lost both of her hands and sustained an injury to her thigh off Thompson’s Cove Beach in central Providenciales at approximately 10:30am on Friday, February 7.

According to reports, the 55-year-old was lingering around the shallow part of the ocean when she spotted the shark and “attempted to engage” with it in order to capture a photo. But the animal soon struck, and her husband was there to try and fight it off her.

A woman was attacked by a shark during her vacation at Turks and Caicos Islands

Image credits: Ishan @seefromthesky/Unsplash (Not the actual photo)

And while the species of shark has still not been released to the public, the local government said it appeared to be around six feet in length, while reports online suggest it was a bull shark — known to be one of the most aggressive and dangerous shark species.

Photos have been released of the injured woman lying on the sand after she eventually made it back to the beach, as a crowd gathered around her, putting cloths all over her arms to lessen the bleeding, as reported by Daily Mail.

Footage taken by another tourist at a beachside villa also showed a shark moving around in the nearby shallow waters.

Image credits: mirror

“I was there for 40 minutes and it was still lingering,” said one of the witnesses to a local news site. 

Royal Turks and Caicos Police said medical personnel and cops were dispatched to the scene, and the victim was subsequently rushed to the Cheshire Hall Medical Centre for treatment.

The woman reportedly had one of her hands amputated at the wrist and the other mid-way down her forearm. She is now said to be back in Canada, receiving medical care.

Following the harrowing incident, police and environmental officials have advised the public to remain out of the ocean until they give the all-clear. 

Netizens flooded the comments with claims that the woman shouldn’t have been there in the first place, much less taking photos of the wild creature.

She allegedly lost both of her hands and was bitten in her upper thigh

Image credits: mirror

Image credits: mirror

“Ya cant blame the sharks if you go in the sea its their territory,” someone stated. 

“Well, if she wasn’t trying to take a selfie and her husband wasn’t trying to stone cold stun the shark when it bitten her, maybe it wouldn’t have happened,” another theorized.

A third simply said, “That’s her own fault.” 

Her husband additionally tried to fight off the shark when it looped back to attack the woman another time

Image credits: Romello Williams / Unsplash (Not the actual photo)

According to the Florida Museum of Natural History’s International Shark Attack File (ISAF), shark attacks in the waters of the Turks and Caicos Islands are relatively rare — only one unprovoked attack was reported last year, and it turned out to be non-fatal.

As a whole, however, the odds of being attacked by a shark are 1 in 11.5 million simply because most of these animals have no desire to harm a human unless someone falls into one of three unfortunate circumstances.

If a person provoked a shark, such as touching, attacking, netting, or hooking, they may be more likely to defend themselves. Other instances include confusion when a shark mistakes a human for their prey. These will most likely result in a singular bite before it swims away.

Image credits: Peter Neumann / Unsplash (Not the actual photo)

Curiosity may also factor in — if a shark wants to investigate an unfamiliar object, such as a person splashing in the water — a behavior that often mimics their food sources. 

As a whole, great white sharks, tiger sharks, and bull sharks are known to be the most aggressive and are the most likely to attack humans. This, however, does not mean that they will bite someone without reason.

Users online said her behavior while trying to take the photo was to blame

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