Tourist, 30, dies after losing her leg in shark attack off Canary Islands

A German tourist died from a rare shark attack near the Canary Islands while she was swimming alongside her catamaran off the northwest coast of the popular travel destination. 

The unidentified 30-year-old woman was sailing on a British-flagged catamaran that had departed from the island of Gran Canaria Saturday, Sept. 14, when the shark attacked.

One of her legs was bitten off during the attack, which happened shortly before 4 p.m. local time.

Authorities confirmed to Reuters that emergency personnel flew 320 miles to the spot of the attack to evacuate her, but she died from the wound in the helicopter.

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After the incident, Spain’s rescue service, the Salvamento Marítimo, investigated the attack.

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According to the Florida Museum of Natural History’s International Shark Attack File (ISAF), the organization has only recorded six confirmed shark-related incidents in Spain’s history.

Shark attacks are rare with a total of 69 confirmed unprovoked attacks happening worldwide in 2023, the ISAF said. Of those 69 attacks, 14 were fatal.

The report noted that shark attacks disproportionally occur in Australia, with 22% of attacks happening in the land down under. 

Fox News Digital has reached out to the Salvamento Marítimo for comment.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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