Two females are in the hospital after being involved in attacked by sharks in Florida.
Addison Bethea, 17, was with family members June 29, off Keaton Beach, near Grassy Island. Bethea swam down to look for scallops when a shark grabbed her leg. Remembering seeing shark attack shows on TV, she tried punching the shark as she surfaced.
Her brother Rhett Willingham, a firefighter and emergency medical technician, saw her surface with blood all around her. He quickly swam to her aid and twisted and pulled his sister until the shark released its grip.
As the duo were being taken back to shore on a Good Samaritan’s boat, Rhett tied a tourniquet on her leg.
Betha was taken to Tallahassee Memorial Hospital where doctors did emergency surgery on her right leg and more surgery may be performed to try and save the leg.
Witnesses describe the shark as being about 9-feet-long and others reported seeing tiger sharks in the area. The continued strikes during the attack lend credence that a bull shark was involved.
A GoFundMe has been created to help with long term medical care.
Another woman was attacked by a shark in Florida.
An unidentified woman in her 30s was in Niles Channel near Tarpon Belly Key June 29. While swimming with her family, she jumped off the boat and surfaced with severe leg injuries.
A tourniquet was wrapped around the appendage as the group sped to shore. Monroe County Fire Rescue responded to find a woman with a large laceration on her leg. Due to the severity of the wound, she was transported to Summerland Key airport.
The woman was flown by the county’s Trauma Star Helicopter to Miami for treatment and received a blood transfusion while in flight.
Both locations are marked on the 2022 Shark Attack Map.
