Tourist pursues shark for photo and it attacks her off Caribbean island, officials say

A tourist visiting the Caribbean had to be flown to a hospital after being attacked while trying to “engage” with a shark, according to investigators.

It happened Friday, Feb. 7, off a beach in the Turks and Caicos Islands, 600 miles southeast of Miami, and the woman is expected to survive. Her identity has not been released.

“The shark was estimated to be approximately 6 (feet) in length. However the species is yet to be confirmed,” the Turks & Caicos Islands Government said in a Feb. 12 news release.

“It has been determined that the tourist had attempted to engage with the animal from the shallows in an attempt to take photographs.”

The Sun news outlet reports the 55-year-old woman was attacked around 10:30 a.m. It happened near the Blue Hills settlement, on the north side of Providenciales, the nation’s main island.

Multiple news outlets have identified the woman as a Canadian tourist who suffered injuries to her hands is about six feet of water.

Government officials closed the beach through midday Sunday, Feb. 9, “after it was determined that the shark had moved to deeper water.”

Details of the woman’s interactions with the shark were not released, but island officials issued a warning for swimmers to “not attempt to feed marine wildlife under any circumstances.”

The warning comes at a time when a social media trend has emerged showing divers feeding sharks in order to record videos.

The Cayman Islands, 633 miles southwest of the Turks and Caicos, issued a warning in November that feeding sharks in the region taught the predators to associate divers with food.

Waters around the islands are home to multiple types of sharks, including grey reef sharks, nurse sharks, lemon sharks, tiger sharks, bull sharks, and hammerhead sharks, according to Visit Turks & Caicos Islands.

This story was originally published February 13, 2025 at 10:46 AM.