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A 30-year-old German woman has reportedly died after having her leg severed by a shark in international waters south of the Canary Islands. She is said to have suffered a cardiac arrest while being airlifted to a hospital in Las Palmas, the capital city of Gran Canaria.
According to the Spanish coastguard, the woman – who has not yet been named – was sailing on a British-flagged catamaran, approximately 278 nautical miles (515km) southwest of Gran Canaria’s airport when the incident occurred.
The catamaran, which has been named as Dalliance Chichester, left the port of Las Palmas, Gran Canaria on 14 September. The Spanish Maritime Safety and Rescue Service (Salvamento Marítimo) was called for emergency assistance by the boat’s crew at 3:55pm on Tuesday, 17 September.
Salvamento Marítimo initially reported the emergency to Moroccan authorities, as the catamaran was located some 110 nautical miles (203km) east of Dakhla, a city in the disputed territory of Western Sahara, which is currently under Moroccan control.
Although some media reports suggest that Moroccan authorities ‘refused’ to assist in rescuing the injured woman, it appears they were unable to do so due to a lack of resources in the area at the time, and requested that Salvamento Marítimo deal with the emergency response instead.
A Spanish Air Force Search and Rescue helicopter dispatched from Gran Canaria reached the catamaran at approximately 8pm to airlift the injured woman to the island’s Doctor Negrín Hospital.
Unfortunately, she went into cardiac arrest during the flight and was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital.
The species of shark involved in the attack has not been identified, although given the nature of the injury, it is likely to have been caused by a larger species such as a great white shark, which are known to inhabit the waters around the Canary Islands, but which are only infrequently sighted.
Shark attacks of any kind are very rare, and there have been very few recorded incidents of any kind in Canary Island waters.
A total of 11 are listed in the Global Shark Attack File between 1916 and 2020, most of which resulted in minor injuries, and none of which were fatal.
Species identified in the database include blue sharks, angel sharks, a porbeagle and a silky shark, but not great whites.
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