Gran Canaria shark attack: Woman, 30, killed off Canary Islands after beast bit off her leg while she was sailing on British boat

The 30-year-old woman from Germany died in a Spanish Air Force helicopter as she was being evacuated to a Gran Canaria hospital. She was pronounced dead after arriving at Doctor Negrin Hospital in the Gran Canaria capital Las Palmas last night (Tuesday 17 September).

The woman is said to have had her leg bitten off by the shark as she was on a catamaran off the coast of Western Sahara. The catamaran has been named as the British-flagged Dalliance Chichester, which had left the Canaries on Saturday (14 September).

When the shark struck the boat was more than 300 miles southwest of the island, and 111 miles west of Dakhla in the disputed territory of Western Sahara, which is claimed by Morocco. The crew appealed for help at 3.55pm to the Spanish maritime rescue service, which shares international rescue responsibilities in the area with the Moroccan navy.

According to local reports, Moroccan authorities refused to transfer the injured woman to Rabat for emergency medical treatment. A search and rescue helicopter from the Spanish air force flew from Gran Canaria to the aid of the injured woman.

The unnamed woman was pronounced dead yesterday just after 11pm after going into cardiac arrest in the Spanish military chopper. The shark attack is understood to have happened around 4pm the same day.

According to the international register of shark attacks compiled by the Florida Museum of Natural History, in the US, there have been six confirmed incidents in the Canary Islands, and none was fatal. It is not immediately clear how the attack occurred.