A woman has lost her right arm after being attacked and dragged underwater by an alligator measuring almost 10ft while swimming with her family.
The victim, who hasn’t been publicly identified, was attacked in Florida’s Silver River on Saturday.
She reportedly tried to fight off the animal with a paddle as it pulled her beneath the surface.
The river reptile bit into her right arm before eventually releasing her. She managed to cling to a paddleboard despite suffering catastrophic upper limb injuries, Daily Mail
John Gamache and his father had been eating lunch on their boat nearby when they heard the attack unfolding. Looking upriver, Gamache saw the ‘gator powering through the water towards a group of swimmers.
‘I looked just upriver from us a couple hundred feet and saw an alligator head way above the water and going full speed towards the swimmers,’ he said.
Gamache immediately started the boat and headed towards the group. The alligator had released the woman by the time he reached her, while the noise of the approaching vessel sent it fleeing.
He was confronted with a particularly grim and bloody scene when he pulled alongside the paddleboard. The woman was bleeding profusely and needed urgent help.
‘It was a terrible injury, bones poking out, blood everywhere,’ Gamache told local news outlet FOX35. ‘Obviously, the minutes mattered.’
With no medical equipment immediately available, he fashioned a tourniquet from rope and used it to stem the bleeding. It was improvised, but the woman needed help within minutes.
Gamache and his father helped the woman aboard along with the remaining swimmers. They took the group to shore, where emergency workers were waiting.
The victim was transported to hospital, but doctors were unable to save her badly injured right arm. Her family said it was amputated as a result of the attack.
Despite the severity of her injuries, she was discharged on Sunday. Her family said she is continuing her recovery at home.
Gamache later spoke to the family by phone and said they had thanked him for stepping in. His quick thinking may very well have prevented the attack from claiming her life.
‘They called earlier and we talked for a while and it was heartwarming to hear them explain their emotions,’ he said.
‘We’re glad that it happened as good as it could have,’ Gamache added. ‘Like the result is just the sustained injury and nothing more.’
Officers from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and a contracted nuisance alligator trapper searched the area following the attack.
A 9ft 8in alligator has now been captured and removed from the river.
Marion County officials temporarily closed the river while the hunt was carried out. It reopened to visitors on Sunday.
Gamache, who has visited the Silver Springs area throughout his life, said he had never previously witnessed an alligator attack there.
Wildlife officials have urged anyone worried about an alligator to contact the state’s Nuisance Alligator Hotline immediately and report their concern.
The attack comes after 31-year-old Brittany Clark was killed by a 12-foot alligator while swimming in a Florida river back in June.
Wildlife officers later identified the reptile responsible in a rather unusual way, matching its teeth to the bite marks left on her arm.