BOCA GRANDE, Fla. — A 9-year-old girl was snorkeling in Boca Grande, Florida, when she became the victim of a shark attack.
Leah Lendel was about four feet from her mother when the incident happened, WBBH reported.
The attack happened on Wednesday around noon, USA Today reported.
Nadia Lendel said that Leah submerged to snorkel, then came up and screamed. That’s when she saw her daughter’s arm covered in blood, her hand mostly torn off at the wrist.
Nadia Lendel was holding her two toddlers and she tried to take them to shore so she would be able to help her daughter.
Lendel’s husband was also in the water and was snorkeling with the couple’s two other children and tried to swim to Leah, who had walked to the shore by herself, WBBH reported.
The family told NBC News that she was “most likely in a state of shock.”
Luckily, a group of construction workers were nearby and were able to help Leah and her parents. They used shirts to wrap her wounds, according to WBBH. NBC News reported that they used a towel to make a tourniquet.
The Boca Grande Fire chief said Leah’s injuries looked consistent with a shark attack, but there was no shark when first responders arrived.
Leah was transported by helicopter to a Tampa hospital with her father and had a six-hour surgery to repair the damage. Doctors were able to put her hand back together.
They used arteries from her leg to get blood flowing in the hand, and installed pins in the bones. She is able to move her fingers and will be in the hospital for about a week for doctors to monitor her progress, WBBH reported.
“We’re thankful to Jesus for the quick response of emergency crews and the skill of the medical team, she is now stable and going through surgery - fighting hard for her road to recovery,” her uncle, Max Derinskiy who started a GoFundMe to help the family, said online.
“The doctors were able to do some miracles and put her hand back together,” Derinskiy told NBC News. “She will be in the hospital for a while and then a lot of physical therapy to hopefully get her hand functioning again.”
The fire chief, C.W. Blosser, said this was the first swimmer bitten by a shark in that area in about 20 years, USA Today reported. Last year there were 14 unprovoked shark bites in the state, according to the Florida Museum of Natural History.
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