Tourist, 30, dies after losing her leg in shark attack off Canary Islands

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Dempsey Manhart, a lifeguard trainee who was bitten by a shark in Ponce Inlet, Florida, speaks out on the incident. (Credit: WOFL)

A German tourist died from a rare shark attack near the Canary Islands while she was swimming alongside her catamaran off the northwest coast of the popular travel destination. 

The unidentified 30-year-old woman was sailing on a British-flagged catamaran that had departed from the island of Gran Canaria Saturday, Sept. 14, when the shark attacked.

One of her legs was bitten off during the attack, which happened shortly before 4 p.m. local time.

Authorities confirmed to Reuters that emergency personnel flew 320 miles to the spot of the attack to evacuate her, but she died from the wound in the helicopter.

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A woman died after being attacked by a shark while swimming near the Canary Islands. (Reinhard Dirscherl/Ullstein Bild via Getty Images)

After the incident, Spain’s rescue service, the Salvamento Marítimo, investigated the attack.

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According to the Florida Museum of Natural History’s International Shark Attack File (ISAF), the organization has only recorded six confirmed shark-related incidents in Spain’s history.

Shark attacks are rare with a total of 69 confirmed unprovoked attacks happening worldwide in 2023, the ISAF said. Of those 69 attacks, 14 were fatal.

Spain has had six confirmed shark-related incidents in its history, according to the Florida Museum of Natural History’s International Shark Attack File. (Ximena Borrazas/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

The report noted that shark attacks disproportionally occur in Australia, with 22% of attacks happening in the land down under. 

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Fox News Digital has reached out to the Salvamento Marítimo for comment.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Sarah Rumpf-Whitten is a breaking news writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business. 

Story tips and ideas can be sent to sarah.rumpf@fox.com and on X: @s_rumpfwhitten.