URGENT RESCUE

Swimmer Loses Arm in Horrific Alligator Attack

The woman was dragged underwater before a nearby boater raced over to help.

A woman lost her right arm after an alligator dragged her underwater as she swam in a river. The victim was in a group of swimmers on Florida’s Silver River near Ocala on Saturday when she saw the gator closing in and tried to beat it back with a paddle—but the animal clamped onto her arm and pulled her under. John Gamache, who was having lunch on his boat with his father, sped toward the group, apparently scaring the creature away, before using rope as a makeshift tourniquet. “It was a terrible injury, bones poking out, blood everywhere. Obviously, the minutes mattered,” he told FOX 35 Orlando. Gamache’s father hauled the remaining swimmers, including children, aboard, and the pair ferried them to a boat launch where paramedics were standing by. The woman’s family told the station on Sunday that she is out of the hospital and recuperating at home. Florida wildlife officers caught and removed the 9-foot-8-inch gator, and the area reopened Sunday.