A teenage scuba diver from Colorado, USA, has lost one of her legs following a shark-biting incident off the coast of Belize.
Annabelle Carlson, 15, was diving near Halfmoon Caye in the Gulf of Honduras when the incident occurred. She had reportedly just finished a dive and removed her scuba gear before jumping back into the water for a swim when she was struck by the shark.
According to the text of a GoFundMe page which has been set up to support Ms Carlson’s recovery, she ‘was able to fight off the attack as best as she could but was critically injured in the fight.’ Her hands were also badly injured while fending off what Aja Jewell, the fundraiser’s organiser, describes as a ‘6 ft long reef shark’.
Carlson was removed from the water with a serious injury to her right thigh. She was taken by the dive boat crew and guides to the Belize Coast Guard Forward Operating Base (FOB) at Calabash before being airlifted to hospital in Belize City. She was subsequently flown back to the US where she continued to receive hospital care.
‘The emergency responders in Belize acted very quickly,’ writes Jewell, on the GoFundMe campaign page. ‘She was airlifted by helicopter to a trauma medical centre in Belize City. The quick action from the emergency response team in Belize saved her life.’
Belize is home to several species of shark, most commonly nurse sharks, lemon sharks and Caribbean reef sharks, although larger species such as bull sharks and (very rarely) tiger sharks will put in an appearance.
Shark attacks on humans anywhere in the world are extremely rare, and there are no serious incidents around Belize listed in the Global Shark Attack File.
Two shark-biting incidents in which two men each had a hand bitten near Ambergris Cay were recorded in 2021 and 2022, but are listed as being provoked, as one of the men was spearfishing and the other baiting the sharks.
While the circumstances of the attack which caused Ms Carlson to lose her leg have not been reported, speculation as to the cause suggests she may simply have unwittingly jumped into the water close to a passing shark.
Andre Perez, Belize’s Minister of Blue Economy told reporters at a press conference that ‘One of the most important things I want to share right now is that we are being informed that the victim is okay, is alive, made it.
‘We’re very saddened about [the incident], but I want to highlight that this is something that is very rare and I don’t think this is a time to say, well, you know, we don’t want to go swimming again or something,’ added Perez. ‘There must be some other reason why that happened, but it’s too early to say right now.
‘This is a very rare case,’ Perez continued. ‘For the past thirty years as such, we have never had any kind – this type of accident as such. I believe there’s nothing to be worried about.’
