Boston newlywed, 44, is mauled to death by shark while paddle boarding at Sandals Bahama’s resort with male relative one DAY after her wedding
A newlywed couple from Boston was mauled to death by a shark while paddleboarding at a Sandals resort in the Bahamas the day after her wedding.
The unidentified 44-year-old was killed at 11:15 a.m. local time on Monday morning while three-quarters of a mile offshore from the five-star Sandals Royal Bahamian Resort with an unidentified male relative.
Her paddleboard was then pictured floating in the water. The victim suffered horrific injuries to the right side of her body and attempts to revive her with CPR were unsuccessful. She had only been married the day before the abomination, WCVB reported.
Debra DeWeese, who spent part of Monday at the $1,500-a-night resort, said other beachgoers told her they heard the woman's screams as she was attacked.
Grim photos and videos shared afterwards showed the victim's covered body being carried back to the beach on a stretcher before being loaded into an ambulance.
Mortuary services staff transport the body of a female tourist after what police described as a fatal shark attack in the waters near the Sandals Royal resort in Bahamas
Woman's paddleboard is pictured floating in the water at Sandals resort, following Monday morning's fatal shark attack
Sergeant Desiree Ferguson of the Royal Bahamian Police told reporters: 'Shortly after 11.15am, police were notified that a female visitor from Boston, Massachusetts, USA, had been attacked by a shark.
“According to our initial reports, the female was paddle boarding with a male family member just off the back of a resort in Western New Providence, about 3/4 mile off the coastline, when she was bitten by the shark.
'An on-duty lifeguard who saw what happened went out in a rescue boat, picked up the victim along with the male relative and took them to safety. The victim was resuscitated.
'However, she suffered serious injuries to the right side of her body, including the right hip and also her right thigh.
“Emergency medical services responded to this scene. They thoroughly examined the victim and stated that she showed no vital signs of life.”
She added that it took a few hours to pull the woman inside before they got a wheelchair out to pick up the man believed to be her husband.
“I can't imagine what the man is going through,” DeWeese — who had a day pass from a cruise — added in a Facebook post.
Emergency services converged on a pier at the Sandals resort on Monday following a fatal shark mauling
Sandals Royal Bahamian Resort is a five-star complex, where rooms cost around $1,500 per night in high season
DeWeese noted that “the staff and some of the guests are a little traumatized.”
Police said a lifeguard rescued both people with a boat when they saw what happened, but the woman suffered serious injuries to the right side of her body and was pronounced dead at the scene despite resuscitation 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 chief did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.
Gavin Naylor, program director of the International Shark Attack File in Florida, said in an interview that several shark-related fatalities have been reported in the Bahamas over 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 many visitors who want to watch sharks from a fishing boat or dive with them.
“So the sharks become habituated and the animals are a little less careful than they otherwise would be,” he said.
The victim, who was not identified, was attacked less than a mile from 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, according to police Sgt. Desiree Ferguson
Between 30 and 40 shark species live around the Bahamas, although the Caribbean reef shark, bull shark, tiger shark and blacktip shark have the highest bite frequency, Naylor said.
“Most of the time it's an accidental bite. They think it's something else,” he said. “Occasionally they will single people out, and that's very intentional.”
Fatal shark attacks are rare, with only five to six reported per year on average worldwide, with most occurring in Australia, Naylor said.
Last year there were a total of them 57 unprovoked bites around the worldthe majority of which are in the US, according to the International Shark Attack File.
At least 33 confirmed unprovoked shark attacks have been reported in the Bahamas since 1580, with the island ranking ninth worldwide, according to the dossier.
Debra DeWeese, a woman who visited the resort and posted photos of the scene afterward, 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 when they saw what happened, but the woman suffered serious injuries to the right side of her body and was pronounced dead at the scene despite resuscitation efforts.
The Nassau Guardian newspaper reported that authorities in the Bahamas are still searching for a German woman who went missing late last month after apparently being attacked while diving.
Last year a shark killed an American 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 does occur was reported in the French Caribbean territory of St. Martin three years ago.