A German tourist died of a rare shark attack near the Canary Islands while swimming alongside her catamaran off the popular destination’s northwest coast.
The unidentified 30-year-old woman was sailing on a British-flagged catamaran which had strayed from the island of Gran Canaria on Saturday 14 September when the shark attacked.
One of her legs was bitten off during the attack, which happened just before 4pm local time.
Authorities confirmed to Reuters that rescue workers flew 200 miles to the scene of the attack to evacuate her, but she died of the wound in the helicopter.
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A woman died after being attacked by a shark while swimming near the Canary Islands. (Reinhard Dirscherl/Ullstein Image via Getty Images)
After the incident, Spain’s rescue service, Salvamento Marítimo, investigated the attack.
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According to the Florida Museum of Natural History’s International Shark Attack File (ISAF), the organization has only recorded six confirmed ones shark-related incidents in the history of Spain.
Shark attacks are rare with a total of 69 confirmed unprovoked attacks worldwide in 2023, ISAF said. Of these 69 attacks, 14 were fatal.
Spain has had six confirmed shark-related incidents in its history, according to the Florida Museum of Natural History’s International Shark Attack File. (Ximena Borrazas/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
The report noted that sharks attack disproportionately occurs in Australia, with 22% of attacks happening in the country down under.
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Fox News Digital has reached out to Salvamento Marítimo for comment.
Reuters contributed to this report.