HOLLYWOOD, Fla. – A 31-year-old woman from Massachusetts was flown to South Florida after she was bitten by a shark Sunday afternoon while fishing in the Bahamas.
Authorities said the woman was spearfishing just off Treasure Cay coast when she was severely bitten on the hand.
Doctors at Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood were working Sunday night to save the woman's fingers.
"It's just unfortunate," Abaco Crash Fire Rescue Chief Colin Albury told Local 10 News. "It's just one of those things where she was spearfishing and the shark came from nowhere."
The woman told rescuers she had just speared a hogfish underwater and was ascending back to a private boat when the blacktip shark attacked, shredding some of her fingers.
"(She's) a real tough lady, but in severe pain, naturally, due to the mutilation of her hand," Albury said. "Our main concern was to get her to a trauma surgeon back home into the U.S."
The victim was flown from the Bahamas by Trinity Air Ambulance International to Fort Lauderdale, where she was then rushed to the emergency room in Hollywood for surgery.
"A lot of people don't realize when you're spearfishing grouper, hogfish, they give off a sound when they are injured and that sound is like ringing the dinner bell for the sharks," Albury said.
The victim, who has asked the hospital to not release her name at this time, is stable and her injuries are not life-threatening, hospital officials said.
Warning: Graphic photo of woman's bite below.