A German woman has died after a shark attack off the west coast of Africa. The 30-year-old vacationer was rescued alive by a Spanish rescue helicopter, but succumbed to cardiac arrest in mid-air on the way to the Canary Islands, reported the digital newspaper “Atlántico Hoy” and other media on the Spanish islands, citing the country’s sea rescue service.
According to reports, the German woman was travelling in the Atlantic on a British catamaran when she jumped into the water on Monday, a good 500 kilometres south of the Canary Islands off the coast of Western Sahara, and was attacked by a shark. She lost a leg in the process. On the night of Tuesday, she was taken to the Doctor NegrÃn University Hospital in Las Palmas on the Canary Island of Gran Canaria. However, the doctors there could only confirm her death, it was said.
Citing the Spanish maritime rescue service, “Atlántico Hoy” reported that the Spanish authorities had initially notified the relevant authorities in nearby Morocco. However, they refused to send help. The Spanish Air Force was therefore called in, and it immediately mobilized a rescue helicopter.
Attacks by sharks on humans are unusual in this area of ​​the Atlantic Ocean south of the Canary Islands, wrote “Atlántico Hoy”. Since records began in the 16th century, only seven have been counted, it said. It remained unclear which species of shark was responsible for the attack and where exactly the German woman came from.
© dpa-infocom, dpa:240917-930-235420/1
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