A shocking incident occurred in the southeastern Caribbean as a British tourist was attacked by a shark on Friday. This led to the government of Trinidad & Tobago taking immediate action by closing seven beaches and a marine park. The victim of the attack was rushed to the hospital and is currently in an intensive care unit, as confirmed by officials.
As a precautionary measure, the closure extended to beaches along the northwestern coast of Tobago, with the attack taking place specifically at Turtle Beach along Great Courland Bay.
The victim, identified as Peter Smith, 64, was visiting the Caribbean island with his wife Jo and friends at the time of the incident. His wife reported that he sustained injuries to his left arm and leg, puncture wounds to the abdomen, and damage to his right hand.
Despite the severity of the situation, his wife mentioned that Peter "is aware of what is happening and is able to communicate a little, although he is still under strong medication," as reported by the BBC.
Eyewitness Luna Skyler, a marine biologist at the nearby Coral Reef Institute, mentioned that other individuals in the water were "frantically attempting to fend off the shark."
"I don't believe they were aware of it. They were standing at waist height in the water so they weren't in deep waters," she shared with the local broadcaster TTT Live. "I think their backs were turned, and they were just relaxing. No one noticed the shark approaching."
Shark encounters are uncommon. Last year, there were 69 unprovoked attacks and 22 provoked bites globally, with 14 fatalities, according to the International Shark Attack File based in Florida.
The incident in Tobago follows a series of attacks on American tourists in the Caribbean in recent months. In January, a young boy from Colorado was severely injured after being bitten by a shark at a resort in the Bahamas.
In December, a New York man was fatally wounded in a shark attack in the Bahamas. Sarah Johnson, 39, was snorkeling with a friend when the attack occurred. She was pronounced dead at the scene by emergency services.
During the month of May, a female tourist from the United States was admitted to a hospital in Turks and Caicos in a critical state.
