MIAMI – A shark attacked and killed a Royal Caribbean ruise ship passenger who was snorkeling in waters all-around the Bahamas on Tuesday, according to authorities.
The incident associated a 58-year-aged female from Pennsylvania and happened at a well-known snorkeling place near Inexperienced Cay in the northern Bahamas, law enforcement spokeswoman Main Superintendent Chrislyn Skippings informed The Involved Push.
“It can be unfortunate,” she stated.
Skippings explained the woman’s loved ones discovered it as a bull shark.
Royal Caribbean International mentioned in a statement to the AP that the man or woman died right after arriving at a local hospital for therapy and that the organization is helping their loved types. They said the guest was taking part in an unbiased shore excursion in Nassau and experienced been sailing on Harmony of the Seas, which is on a 7-evening trip immediately after departing Florida on Sunday.
The majority of shark assaults in the Caribbean have happened in the Bahamas, with two reported in 2019, one particular of them lethal. That incident included a Southern California lady who was on vacation and was attacked by 3 sharks around Rose Island, located just a 50 percent mile from wherever Tuesday’s attacked transpired.
In December 2020, a fatal shark attack was described in the French Caribbean territory of St. Martin, the 1st this sort of incident in that area.
Over-all, at the very least 32 shark attacks have been noted in the Bahamas considering the fact that 1749, followed by 13 assaults in Cuba through that time period of time, together with one particular in 2019, according to the Florida-centered International Shark Assault File.
Michael Heithaus, a marine biologist at Florida International University in Miami, reported in a cellular phone job interview that the significant quantity of assaults in the Bahamas is probably joined to the simple fact that there are a good deal of persons in the h2o in that area and that it has a sturdy maritime ecosystem.
He stated the Bahamas has a variety of shark species, the the vast majority of which do not shell out awareness to individuals, except for bull sharks and tiger sharks.
“They get to quite massive measurements, and they try to eat massive prey,” Heithaus stated, adding that sharks have incredible sensory programs and can be captivated to food stuff, sounds and smells in the water.
But over-all, shark attacks keep on being exceptional, he pressured.
Globally, there ended up 137 shark attacks last year, 73 of them unprovoked, in accordance to the Worldwide Shark Assault File.
