British national lost arm, leg to shark jaws in Tobago

Tobago: A British tourist has been brutally attacked by a bull shark 10 meters off the shore in Courland Bay, on Tobago’s north coast on Friday. The 64-year-old lost his arm and leg after being mauled while swimming on the beach, causing severe injury to his stomach.

Right after the attack, the tourist was transported to the Scarborough General Hospital for intensive care. As per the reports, the bull shark was about eight to ten feet long and two feet wide and created havoc across Turtle Beach.

The Secretary for the Division of Health, Wellness and Social Protection of Tobago outlined that the limbs of the British Nationals were saved, and they will provide further report tomorrow.

Following the horrifying incident, seven beaches have been temporarily closed to members of the public until further notice. Tobago Emergency Management Agency outlined that the beaches include Turtle Beach, Grafton Beach, Mount Irvine Beach, Grange Bay, Rocky Point, Buccoo Beach, Swallows Beach, No Man’s Land, Store Bay, and Pigeon Point.

The closure is effective immediately and applies to all recreational activities such as snorkeling, diving, glass-bottom boat tours, and any other water-based activities within the park boundaries. In addition to that, Tobago House of Assembly also offered a $10,000 reward for the capturing of the shark involved in attack.

As per the assembly, only the registered fishermen were allowed to take part in the initiative. However, 2 hours later, the assembly announced the recall for the offer after they received the arrival of the fisherman with 2 to 3 sharks.

The incident created chaos among the citizens of Trinidad and Tobago, showing concerns for the tourism sector and the security of the tourists. Several eyewitnesses described the incident and called the incident “horrifying” and “scary.”

Beach vendor “Blacks” recalls a shark attack in Tobago this morning and said that the incident was scary; they thought the attack would kill the tourists, but luckily, he got saved. Another mentioned that the incident was freak and said.”I don’t think they saw it; they were casually swimming, and suddenly a shark appeared, and the tourist tried to fight back, but nothing happened.”

Another added,” Sad indeed…you know this making international news by this evening. Wishing him a speedy recovery, both mentally and physically….our waters are becoming like Florida now. Locals have to be ever vigilant now.”