SOMETHING IN THE WATER

American Girl, 15, Loses Right Leg in Vacation Shark Attack

The girl was bitten during a diving excursion in Gulf of Honduras, reports say.

An American teen lost a leg after being attacked by a shark during a vacation in Central America, according to a report.

The tourist—15-year-old Annabelle Carlson—was on a diving excursion near Halfmoon Caye in the Gulf of Honduras on Tuesday morning when the attack occurred, according to ABC News. “It was her right leg that received a bite from the shark,” Admiral Elton Bennett of the Belize Coast Guard told the network. “So, she lost her right leg.”

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Carlson was reportedly on an excursion with the company Belize Dive Pro to the Lighthouse Reef, a popular Caribbean dive site located around 50 miles south of Belize City. Bennett said tour operators pulled Carlson out of the water and took her to a Coast Guard base where officers assisted in stabilizing her before she was later airlifted to a hospital.

“She’s stable and she’s recovering at this time,” Bennett told ABC News on Thursday.

It’s not clear what species of shark was involved. Andre Perez, Belize’s Minister of the Blue Economy and Disaster Risk Management, on Wednesday described the attack as “an unfortunate situation.”

“I want to say that this is perhaps the first time ever that we recorded an attack, as such,” he told reporters. Perez added: “We are very saddened by it, but I want to highlight that this is something that is very rare.”

This story has been updated. The victim’s first name was originally misstated based on early reports.

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Dan Ladden-HallBreaking News Editor

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