US woman's leg 'shredded' in shark attack

An American woman had her leg 'shredded' after she was attacked by a Tiger shark in Puerto Rico. File photo / Thinkstock

An American woman has described seeing her leg "shredded" after she was attacked by a shark in Puerto Rico last week.

Lydia Strunk, 27, was kayaking with a group of 16 tourists at a tiny island just east of Puerto Rico, famed for its bioluminescent waters.

She jumped into the water with four other people, when something hit the leg of the person next to her.

"The person next to me asked, 'Did you feel that?'" Strunk told Good Morning America. "Then, moments later, I felt a strong impact against my right leg and it pulled me into the water. Then I felt the shark swim across my left leg and then swim away."

"It was certainly a moment that changed from enjoyable to terrifying very quickly," said Strunk, who was then bitten by a six-foot long Tiger shark.

"I just felt strong pressure, but I just instinctually lifted up my leg and saw that my leg was shredded."

"I got back in my kayak and I was more so in a state of frightened disbelief, saying 'Oh my god, oh my god,'" she said.

The group's tour guide tied Strunk's leg in a tournqiuet, before they kayaked to shore and took a 15-minute ride to the nearest emergency room.

Strunk said the odds of being attacked by a shark were one in 11 million. Forty-six people reportedly have been attacked - nine of them fatally - by sharks since May in the United States, while a 21-year-old Australian man died after he was mauled by a shark in Western Australia on Sunday.

- HERALD ONLINE