A shark killed an American woman snorkeling in the Bahamas, police said.
The 58-year-old from Pennsylvania was attacked near Green Cay after booking an excursion with her family to New Providence Island.
A police spokesperson said members of the woman’s family saw a bull shark attack her, in an area only half a mile from where a A 21-year-old American woman was killed in a shark attack in 2019.
The family was on a seven-night cruise on Royal Caribbean’s Harmony of the Seas, which left Florida on Sunday.
The woman sustained upper body injuries and was pulled out of the water by her family members and tour company workers, police said.
She was taken to a hospital in New Providence where she was pronounced dead on Tuesday, police added.
Cruise operator Royal Caribbean International said the passenger who was killed had booked an independent excursion to Nassau and was supporting his family.
The fatal accident comes a month later an eight-year-old British boy survived a shark attack in the Bahamas.
Shark attacks on humans are generally rare.
A bull shark in the Bahamas. Photo file: AP
In 2021, 73 unprovoked attacks globally were confirmed, of which nine were fatal.
This was above the annual global average of five unprovoked fatalities, according to experts.
Overall, at least 32 shark attacks have been reported in the Bahamas since 1749.
Michael Heithaus, a marine biologist, said the number of attacks in the Bahamas is likely related to the high number of people in the water in that area and its robust marine ecosystem.
He said the Bahamas has a variety of shark species, most of which pay no attention to people, with the exception of bull sharks and tiger sharks.
“They come to very large sizes and eat large prey,” Heithaus said, before adding that sharks have amazing sensory systems and can be attracted to food, sounds and smells in the water.
