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A 22-year-old woman from Connecticut was hospitalized in Turks and Caicos after she was attacked by a shark. The Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Department said that the woman, who has not been identified, was snorkeling in the water off the coast near Blue Haven Resort, which is located in Leeward Marina, Providenciales, on Wednesday (May 24) afternoon.
An employee at the resort contacted emergency services and told the operator that the woman's leg had been bitten off by a shark.
Police officers and paramedics rushed to the scene and transported the woman to Cheshire Hall Medical Centre, where she remains hospitalized in serious condition.
Officials did not say what type of shark attacked the woman. According to a tourism website, barrier reef sharks and gray reef sharks are commonly found swimming around the archipelago of islands. Nurse sharks and lemon sharks can also be found around the wetlands of the island nation.
According to the Florida Museum of Natural History's International Shark Attack File, there were a total of 108 shark attacks in 2022, with 57 classified as unprovoked bites.