A young woman was bitten in the leg by a tiger shark attacked off Bourail, in western New Caledonia, firefighters said Monday.
The young scientist managed with her friend to swim to the catamaran where the members of the crew gave her first aid.
A young woman was bitten in the leg by a tiger shark which attacked her off Bourail, in western New Caledonia, firefighters said Monday.
Member of a team of videographers and scientists on an expedition on sperm whales, the victim and one of his colleagues had moved away from their catamaran about twenty meters to explore the reefs with fins and snorkel.
The boat anchored about 1 kilometer from Île Verte, a reserve nicknamed "the emerald of the Bourail lagoon" (160 kilometers north of Nouméa) because of the beauty of its seabed.
"The shark first circled around them, then it rose from the bottom and took on one of the swimmers, who managed to struggle," a Bourail firefighter told AFP, adding that he it was a tiger shark over 4 meters.
His days are not in danger
Bitten in the right thigh, the young scientist however managed with her friend to swim to the catamaran where the members of the crew provided her with first aid.
The shark allegedly inflicted three lacerations of about three inches.
"She was then transferred to Noumea for medical intervention. Her life is not in danger," members of this expedition said in a statement, intended to make a documentary.
In 2009 and 2016, two fatal shark attacks took place in this area.