A tourist was killed by a shark on a Caribbean island.
The extremely rare attack is believed to have taken place when one or two tiger sharks bit a large piece of the leg of an Italian man on Friday.
The incident is said to be the first of its kind on the Colombian island of San Andres, famous for its white sandy beaches, snorkeling and diving.
Video and images circulating on social media claim to show two about eight-foot fish that may have been involved – and graphic shots of the man lying on his back are bloody heavy.
Speculations on social media have suggested that the attack actually came from a single bull shark and that the man was swimming from a “forbidden” part of the island’s coast.
The victim was named Antonio Roseto Degli Abruzzi, 56.
He was to be taken to hospital after being attacked in a popular snorkeling area called La Piscinita.
He went into hypovolemic shock due to the severe blood loss he suffered through the bite to his thigh.
The attack was first described in the area, which is full of hotels and diving centers and is considered one of the best places to snorkel on the island.
A local government spokesman said: “There are diving programs with professionals in which sharks pass in the area, but nothing has ever happened.”
Diving instructor Mirla Zambrano, 50, added: ‘We are all very surprised. It’s the first time a shark has attacked a tourist in San Andres. ‘
Tiger shark attacks on humans are extremely rare, but among sharks the subspecies is second only to the great white in the number of recorded fatal attacks.
They are mainly nocturnal eggs, but two appear to be seen swimming in the clear sea, near which the Italian holidaymaker lost his life.
Marine biologist Rodrigo Lopez said: ‘People are very worried about what happened and they are not letting people go into the water.
A witness said the man who was attacked was a good swimmer and had been in the sea for a long time, and when he went out a second time further after returning to shore, he started to seek help. crying and was surrounded by blood. . ‘
Mauricio Valdonado, who risked his own life to bring the tourist back to shore, added: “He was alone.”
La Piscinita, which means small swimming pool in English, gets its name from the calm water in the rock formation, which looks like a natural pool enclosed in rocks.
Visitors describe it on Tripadvisor as a “great place to swim with the fish.”
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One said after a recent trip: ‘A wonderful place. Very crystal clear and warm water, a good place to jump and enjoy a moment in the water. ‘
San Andres, about 470 miles north of the Colombian mainland, is part of Colombia but is historically bound to Britain.
British settlers from Barbados, England, settled in the neighboring island of Providence in the 17th century in San Andres.
Welsh privateer Sir Henry Morgan used it in 1670 as one of the centers of his operations.
After a failed Spanish invasion of the islands in 1635, they were controlled by Britain until 1787.
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