A British tourist is in a ‘stable’ condition in intensive care after being seriously injured in a shark attack off a Caribbean island.
Peter Smith, 64, sustained severe injuries to his left hand, left thigh and stomach after he was savaged by an enormous bull shark off the north coast of Tobago on Friday morning.
The pensioner, from Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, was swimming 10 metres off the shore near the Starfish Hotel in Courland Bay when he was attacked by the predator, estimated to be between 8 to 10 feet long and two feet wide.
Although the full extent of Mr Smith’s injuries is yet to be known, it is believed his left hand was severed from the elbow down, his left thigh was severed and he received severe lacerations to his stomach.
Chief secretary Farley Augustine told reporters that Mr Smith was in a ‘critical, but stable’ condition at Scarborough General Hospital on Saturday after surgery had taken place and was on the road to recovery.
He said the man had been holidaying on the island with his wife and friends and had been due to fly home later that day.
The attack prompted the coastguard to close down seven beaches as they attempted to contain the threat, and a 10,000 US dollar bounty previously offered to anyone who could capture the shark was later retracted.
Mr Augustine added that the local government was working closely with the British High Commission.
The Foreign Office said it was supporting the family.
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.
There have been only two recorded shark attacks as far south as Tobago in the last 20 years, and neither was within 200 miles of the island itself.
The vast majority of shark attacks in the region occur further north, in the central Caribbean and off the eastern and southern coasts of the US.
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