A Colorado teenager has detailed the horrifying moment her leg was ripped off during a harrowing shark attack.
Back in August, 15-year-old Annabelle Carlson embarked on a diving trip to the Lighthouse Reef in the Gulf of Honduras, off the coast of Belize.
The trip with her family and a tour guide was meant to be a fun day out, but ended in tragedy after she left the boat and was attacked by sharks.
Advert
Carlson was an avid diver who had 20 dives under her belt, and she told NBC News she was used to seeing sharks underwater.
Speaking of the attack, the teen told NBC News: "The second I hit the water — a shark almost — like it came from under the boat. I was facing the boat at this point. It started attacking my hands.
"It’s biting my hands. And it’s kind of weird so I kind of just start hitting it to try and hit it off me."
It was Carlson's mother, Kellie Carlson, who noticed her daughter was in serious danger.
"I was right there because I was getting my phone to take a picture of them jumping off. The minute she hit the water, the shark attacked her and I'm screaming yelling, ‘Somebody help. Help her!’” she said.
The terrible ordeal lasted a period of 30 seconds, but it felt like a lifetime for Carlson.
"It’s almost a feeling of being helpless," the Colorado teen said. "It was hard. It was scary. It was completely painless. It felt like a tugging feeling, which was weird. It felt like I was playing tug of war a little bit … My adrenaline was so much to the point where, like, I didn’t even feel the second shark attack my leg."
Meanwhile, Kelly looked in absolute horror that she may lose her daughter.
"As soon as they pulled her up, I knew right then and there I was going to have to do everything I could to save her life. Because basically her leg was missing from her knee to her ankle," she told NBC News.
"All the soft tissue from her knee to her ankle was gone, and it was just her tibia and fibula. I wasn’t sure she was going to make it because she was sheet white."
Those on the boat started throwing scuba tanks in the water to distract the sharks - the breed of which hasn't yet been identified - which allowed Carlson to get to safety.
The teen has undergone seven surgeries over the past few months and had her leg amputated.
Callum Jones