Shark attack: Tourist Jordan Lindsey, 21, was killed by three tiger sharks in the waters around the Bahamas. Photo / Getty Images, Supplied
Shark attack: Tourist Jordan Lindsey, 21, was killed by three tiger sharks in the waters around the Bahamas. Photo / Getty Images, Supplied
A Californian student has been killed by three sharks while on a family holiday to the Bahamas.
Jordan Lindsey, 21, from Torrance California was snorkelling near Rose Island on Wednesday when she was attacked. The island is famous for the novelty of swimming with wild pigs.
The family were taking part in a snorkelling tour to the Caribbean island when the 21-year-old was ambushed by the pack of sharks.
Michael Lindsey, the student's father, witnessed the whole horrifying ordeal. The tiger sharks worked together to single out the swimmer, one tearing off her right arm completely.
Jordan's sister set up a GoFundMe page to help the family with funerary costs. Photo / Gofundme.com
"It happened so fast, and no one yelled anything," Mr Lindsey told the New York Post. The Sun reported that Jordan's mother was in the water at the time but was left unscathed, as her daughter reeled from the attack.
The young swimmer was pulled to shore and taken to Doctor's Hospital in Nassau, where she was pronounced dead. Her fatal injuries included bites to her lower limbs and her right arm, which was torn off.
According to other tourists, snorkelling parties were still on the other side of the island at the time of the attack. Speaking to the Daily Mail, Jace Holton 32 from Texas recounted how a guide ran up to tell them of the incident while she was swimming.
"I think they were all pretty stunned and shocked honestly from what I understand it was pretty severe."
Bahamas wild pigs: Jordan's family said the Envirnomental Communications student was an animal lover. Photo / Getty Images
Yesterday the US State Department confirmed the report by the Royal Bahamas Police Force that the American student had been killed in a shark attack.
Linsdey's body will be transported back to California by the Bahamas US Embassy, following an autopsy at the Princess Margaret Hospital in Nassau.
"She was so caring. She loved all animals. It's ironic she would die getting attacked by a shark," Michael Lindsey, the student's father told NBC news.
A Tiger shark at Tiger Beach in Bahamas. Photo / Getty Images
"The Ministry of Tourism, on behalf of the Government and the people of The Bahamas expresses its condolences and deepest sympathies to the family and loved ones of the victim of Wednesday's shark attack off Rose Island, near New Providence," said the Bahamian Ministry of Tourism and Aviation in a statement.
The shocking incident was the first fatal shark attack in the Bahamas since 2010, when the victim of a man-eating shark was discovered by fishermen. According to NBC Florida, the four-metre shark "regurgitated a human foot" after being hooked off of Exuma.
The waters around the Bahamas are a haven for sharks and tourists. Some tourist operators advertise swimming with sharks and shark feeding tours as attractions.
A 21-year-old woman from Torrance was killed in a shark attack in the Bahamas, the woman's family confirmed. https://t.co/0l09mEqYsd
The incident on Wednesday was highly unusual, not just because attacks on humans are extremely rare; tiger sharks usually feed at night and are solitary predators, according to the oceanconservancy.org.
Although the IUCN conservation Red List reports the sharks as "near threatened" tiger sharks are found over a huge geographic range between spanning from the North Atlantic to North Island New Zealand.
The Bahamas are a known hotspot for shark populations accounting for almost half of all unprovoked attacks in the Caribbean islands. In spite of this, according to the Florida Museum's international shark database, there have been fewer than 30 confirmed unprovoked attacks on humans in the past 270 years.
Jordan Lindsey was a student of Environmental Communications at Loyola Marymount University, from which she was preparing to graduate in 2020.
Lindsey's sister, Madison, has set up a GoFundMe page to help the family's funeral expenses.
Madison wrote that donations would also "be going to the Gentle Barn in California," which is an animal shelter outside of Los Angeles, "because Jordan loved the Gentle Barn and would have wanted them to have help too."
