A young girl fights with all her strength against an angry shark. She barely survives. The incident in the Caribbean is unusual - and unexpected.
Belize City – A family vacation in the Caribbean ended dramatically for a teenager from the USA. After a shark attack, 15-year-old Annabelle Carlson fought for her life. She ultimately won the fight - but lost her right leg. Her family tells of the traumatic incident and asks for help on what will probably be a long and difficult path to treatment.
“Highly traumatic fight for survival”: Teenager defends herself against shark attack
While on vacation together in Belize, the family went on a guided diving trip on August 6, as mother Kellie Carlson writes on the GoFundMe fundraising page. "This is where the unimaginable incident occurred," the appeal for donations states.
When she arrived at the second destination at Lighthouse Reef, the girl took off her diving equipment and jumped into the water again to go for a swim. "The moment she touched the water, a shark about two meters long attacked her," the mother continued.
A "very aggressive, highly traumatic fight for survival" quickly developed under water. "Annabelle bravely defended herself against the attack," the report states. With the help of fellow passengers, the young woman was pulled back on board the boat, where some experienced divers took life-saving measures.
Shark attack during diving trip in the Caribbean: Bite victim barely survives but loses her right leg
Thanks to the quick intervention of the medical team in the island's capital, Belize City, the 15-year-old is still alive. She suffered serious injuries to her hands and right leg during the attack. Pictures show the injured girl on a stretcher, her right leg covered in blood.
Doctors later had to amputate her leg, ABC News reports. "It was the right leg that was bitten by the shark and later had to be amputated," Elton Bennett of the coast guard in Belize told the news channel. "Fortunately, both hands will probably make a full recovery, according to the doctors here," the girl's mother writes on GoFundMe. A woman in the USA also recently lost part of her leg - this is where serious incidents involving sharks occur most frequently.
After Annabelle Carlson was stabilized by doctors in Belize, she was flown by helicopter to a special clinic in Miami, where she has been cared for since then. Further treatment is scheduled for the coming days, it is said. "The doctors here are experts in Annabelle's special type of injury and are trained to heal it quickly," said the mother, who thanked everyone for the great sympathy in the update on her daughter's condition.
Untypical behavior for shark species – expert suspects cause of attack
Experts estimate the probability of a shark attack at 1:11.5 million, as the science magazine from ARD Alpha writes. Nevertheless, reports of shark attacks keep coming out, even in waters that are sometimes knee-deep. The predators are even found in the North and Baltic Seas. 15-year-old Annabelle Carlson is believed to have fallen victim to a Caribbean reef shark, which - as the name suggests - is primarily native to the Caribbean. Nurse sharks, which are considered friendly, and gentle whale sharks are also found in the waters off Belize.
Numerous species of sharks and rays can be seen, particularly in Shark Ray Alley, a nature reserve off the coast of Belize that is used for tourism. Overall, the risk of shark attacks in Belize is considered low. Caribbean reef sharks can grow up to three meters long and, despite their powerful build, are considered shy and harmless to humans.
In the TV news magazine Inside Edition , an American wildlife biologist suspects that the predator must have mistaken the 15-year-old for prey. A shark could therefore misinterpret the jerky wave movement caused by the jump into the water. "I would like to stress again that such incidents are extremely rare," confirms the head of the Blue Economy research project Andre Perez on ABC News . Just recently, a German vacationer was attacked by a shark in the Bahamas and has been missing ever since.
