{"id":42437,"date":"2024-04-27T13:14:48","date_gmt":"2024-04-27T13:14:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/?p=42437"},"modified":"2024-04-27T13:14:50","modified_gmt":"2024-04-27T13:14:50","slug":"british-tourist-attacked-by-a-shark-in-trinidad-and-tobago-is-in-intensive-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/2024\/04\/27\/british-tourist-attacked-by-a-shark-in-trinidad-and-tobago-is-in-intensive-care\/","title":{"rendered":"British tourist attacked by a shark in Trinidad and Tobago is in intensive care"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A British tourist is in intensive care after being attacked by a shark in Trinidad and Tobago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The incident on Friday, which occurred near the Starfish Resort in Courland Bay, prompted the government to shut seven beaches and a marine park along the northwestern coast of the Caribbean island.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The shark appeared to be a bull shark, according to the Tobago House of Assembly, and was 8-10ft long and 2ft wide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Bull
Image:Bull shark pictured in Fiji in 2022. Pic: Ric Tapia\/AP<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Chief Secretary Farley Augustine said the victim was a 64-year-old British man, adding he was in a “stable” condition but had suffered severe injuries to his arm, thigh and stomach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A local official named him as Peter Smith, from Berkhamsted in Hertfordshire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Map
Image:Map showing Courland Bay, where the attack took place <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Trinidad
Image:Trinidad and Tobago is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

“Some reattachments were done, of fingers for example, and hopefully that will save those fingers,” Mr Augustine said in a news conference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We know that there’s significant wounds on one of his legs that cannot be completely closed, but he will require extensive work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The task at this time for our health professionals is really to stabilise and ensure that we can save life and limb as much as possible.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A $10,000 (\u00a38,000) bounty was initially offered to anyone who could capture the shark, but this was later retracted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stephanie Wright, a British tourist who saw the attack, said she noticed people gathering on the beach and thought they may have been aiding someone who had suffered a cardiac arrest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Then I saw a dorsal fin come out of the sea and I went: ‘Oh my God, it’s a shark’. And as it turned I saw the tail come out as well.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Orion Jakerov, watersports manager at the Starfish Resort, also witnessed the incident and said the man was about waist-deep in the water when the shark attacked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He told local media the man and others near him in the water had their backs turned and did not see the shark approaching.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The other people in the water were physically trying to fight the shark off while it attacked,” he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a statement the government said shark sightings were reported in the Grafton area and the Buccoo Reef Marine Park.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Officials said the closures will allow the coastguard and Department of Fisheries to investigate the incident and “neutralise the shark threat, if possible”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Foreign Office spokesperson said: “We are supporting the family of an injured British man in Tobago and are in contact with the local authorities.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year, there were 69 unprovoked attacks and 22 provoked bites worldwide, along with 14 fatalities, according to the Florida-based International Shark Attack File.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A British tourist is in intensive care after being attacked by a shark in Trinidad and Tobago. The incident on Friday, which occurred near the Starfish Resort in Courland Bay, prompted the government to shut seven beaches and a marine park along the northwestern coast of the Caribbean island. The shark appeared to be a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_post_source_name":"","_post_source_url":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[64,12],"tags":[6975,5304,11394,5268,11190,9188,9884,9232,7995,5455,5321,1445,2264,12634,11111,11525,10954,12791,8906,11625,11199,10740,11200,8869,10415,594,6974],"class_list":["post-42437","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health-fitness","category-world-news","tag-arrest","tag-attack","tag-attacks","tag-british","tag-british-man","tag-bull","tag-cardiac","tag-cardiac-arrest","tag-caribbean","tag-family","tag-florida","tag-god","tag-government","tag-health","tag-injured","tag-injuries","tag-international","tag-manager","tag-orion","tag-professionals","tag-shark-attack","tag-tourist","tag-trinidad-and-tobago","tag-water","tag-work","tag-who","tag-worldwide"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42437","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42437"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42437\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42438,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42437\/revisions\/42438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}