A 9-year-old girl was airlifted to a trauma center after being attacked by a shark while snorkeling off a Florida beach on Wednesday, authorities confirmed.
It happened around noon off Boca Grande, near Fort Myers, on the state’s southwest coast, according to the Boca Grande Fire Department.
Local media in Southwest Florida identified the shark attack victim as Leah Lendel. The girl’s family said in a statement that she was underwater when she suddenly surfaced screaming, her right hand covered in blood. They said it was barely attached to her arm.
Construction workers rushed in to help girl attacked by shark
Alfonso Tello and his fellow construction workers were on a break when they heard the screams. He said they jumped in the water to help the girl, not knowing that she had been attacked by a shark. He said the image of the girl’s arm is something he can’t get out of his head.
“I was thinking that they were playing around, but when we heard the scream like ‘help, help’ we saw the little girl crying. So when we see that little girl come out from the water with no hand, it was like something out like gets me, gets me, like everybody was in shock,” he told WBBH.
“We heard somebody screaming ‘help, help, help.’ And then we jump on and see what’s going on. And I saw it was like five kids on the water, mom and dad on the water. I saw a shark right on top of the lady, little kid. So we jump on the water, we pull him off, and the shark was right behind us, and it was pretty bad,” Raynel Lugo, who was nearby when the attack happened, told CBS affiliate WINK.
“She was walking outside with the hands out bleeding, like really bad. So he put a towel on it to stop the bleeding. And I called 911,” Lugo recounted.
Witnesses believe a bull shark attacked the girl
Lugo said after they got the girl to shore, they tried to help her until paramedics arrived.
“The hand, it was just hanging by this piece of the hands. The whole thing was completely hanging out. You can see bones all completely red. So we stopped bleeding. We tried to stop it. She put a towel on it and hold it into that place. So I sit down with her, and I was talking to the EMS arrived,” he said.
“Nine years old. I have a daughter, 9-years-old, same age. She was brave,” he added.
Witnesses said it was a bull shark that attacked the girl, but officials have not confirmed that.
“It was a big shark, like eight feet. I would say like eight feet,” Tello said.
Some swimmers at the beach said this is why they stay close to shore.
“You have to be careful, keep an eye out. How sad, that is very sad and I feel so bad for her,” Pamela Krout said.
Are shark attacks common in Florida?
Last year, there were 28 confirmed shark bites in U.S. waters, accounting for 60% of the worldwide attacks.
Half of U.S. attacks took place in Florida in 2024, which is also common for the state often known to experience the highest concentrations of shark bites of anywhere in the world.
Emily Mae Czachor
contributed to this report.
