A 44-year-old Boston woman visiting the Bahamas succumbed to her injuries Monday after a shark attack while paddleboarding near a beach resort, local authorities confirmed.
In a statement, the Royal Bahamas Police Force said preliminary reports indicated the unidentified woman was with a male relative when the shark attacked at the rear of the resort in western New Providence at 11:15 a.m. The resort has been identified by local press and Reuters as the Sandals Royal Bahamian Resort.
“Preliminary reports indicate that the victim, along with a male relative, was paddle boarding away from the shoreline in waters at the rear of a resort in western New Providence when she was bitten by a shark,” the statement said.
ADVERTISEMENT
A lifeguard on duty at the resort spotted the incident and rushed to a rescue boat, retrieved both the woman and the male, and helped get them back to land while administering CPR on the victim.
“The victim suffered significant trauma to the right side of her body. She was examined on scene by emergency medical technicians, who concluded that she showed no vital signs of life,” the police said.
A Jet Ski operator, who was at the scene at the time of the shark attack, told The Nassau Guardian: “I mean it was crazy, because, like I said, I watched them push out from the beach,” he said, referring to the woman and the male relative. “They were laughing and talking. They [were] side by side and laughing and talking. When I saw it was only the guy standing on the board, I said she must have fallen off. Then you could actually hear the faint shouts of him screaming for help.”
The incident comes just one day after a 26-year-old woman was killed in a separate shark attack at a beach resort in Mexico.
