Andrea Lynch, 20, was attacked by what is presumed a 6 foot bull shark while floating on her back in the sea during a boat trip in Sarasota Bay, Florida, US. The incident took place on Wednesday night 15 August 2007.
Lynch was bitten on the side of her torso. She said the shark bit her, shook her and let go. She received 17 puncture wounds requiring more than 100 stitches.
Lynch and three friends had rowed out in an inflatable boat to a larger boat anchored 200 metres offshore. They wanted to swim in the bioluminescence which was glowing that night. Lynch and a friend jumped into the water.
One friend was swimming with Lynch when she screamed, and two were standing in the boat. When she pulled herself out of the water, the friends planned to go back to shore. But in the chaos, the inflatable dinghy floated away. Nobody wanted to jump back in the water to bring it back. They had no way back to shore.
"It was like a horror movie," Lynch said.
"I got on the boat and my friend was like, 'Do I need to call 911?'", she told the Sarasota Herald-Tribune newspaper.
"I reached back with my hand and felt all these gashes on me, and there was blood running down my body and pooling in the boat," she added.
Her friends staunched the bleeding by pressing shirts against the wounds.
They called 911 and 20 minutes later a rescue boat picked them up. Lynch was taken to Sarasota Memorial Hospital.
Doctors said the shark's teeth got close to her lungs during the attack, but missed all major organs.
Sources:
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
BBC News
PIC source:
Metro UK
Lynch was bitten on the side of her torso. She said the shark bit her, shook her and let go. She received 17 puncture wounds requiring more than 100 stitches.
Lynch and three friends had rowed out in an inflatable boat to a larger boat anchored 200 metres offshore. They wanted to swim in the bioluminescence which was glowing that night. Lynch and a friend jumped into the water.
One friend was swimming with Lynch when she screamed, and two were standing in the boat. When she pulled herself out of the water, the friends planned to go back to shore. But in the chaos, the inflatable dinghy floated away. Nobody wanted to jump back in the water to bring it back. They had no way back to shore.
"It was like a horror movie," Lynch said.
"I got on the boat and my friend was like, 'Do I need to call 911?'", she told the Sarasota Herald-Tribune newspaper.
"I reached back with my hand and felt all these gashes on me, and there was blood running down my body and pooling in the boat," she added.
Her friends staunched the bleeding by pressing shirts against the wounds.
They called 911 and 20 minutes later a rescue boat picked them up. Lynch was taken to Sarasota Memorial Hospital.
Doctors said the shark's teeth got close to her lungs during the attack, but missed all major organs.
Sources:
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
BBC News
PIC source:
Metro UK
