Girl, 9, left with hand ‘hanging off’ after horror shark attack just feet from her mother | World | News

A nine-year-old girl is recovering in hospital after a shark tore into her arm as she snorkelled just feet from her mother — leaving her hand “hanging” and blood pouring into the water. Leah Lendel was swimming in shallow water on Florida’s Gulf Coast when she was attacked by what is believed to be an eight-foot bull shark.

Her mother, influencer Nadia Lendel, who has more than 97,000 Instagram followers, said: “She screamed. She flies out and I look over…and I could see her hand hanging, like a piece, and just blood everywhere.” The attack happened just four feet from shore, near the 2200 block of Shore Lane in Boca Grande. Ms Lendel had been watching from the beach with her two younger children when the shark attacked.

The horrifying incident happened just four feet from shore.

Mrs Lendel said: “I just started screaming to my husband to hurry up and get out because I had so many babies and I didn’t know who to grab. I’m just happy she’s alive.”

Construction workers on their lunch break ran to help.

One used a towel to form a makeshift tourniquet while another called 911 — quick thinking which paramedics later said may have saved the child’s life.

According to ABC News, Leah was airlifted to Tampa General Hospital, more than 100 miles away, where doctors carried out emergency surgery to save her hand.

Bodycam footage released by the Lee County Sheriff’s Office shows Ms Lendel in visible distress moments after the attack.

She added: “I look over and I could just see blood everywhere. I didn’t even know what to do. I grabbed the babies. I didn’t know who to go to first. There were kids everywhere. And I just saw her hand – it was barely attached.”

Construction worker Alfonso Tello, who witnessed the aftermath, said: “When we see that little girl come out from the water with no hand. Everybody was in shock.”

His colleague Raynel Lugo added: “The hand, it was just hanging by this piece. The whole thing was completely hanging out. You could see bones, all completely red.”

Another witness said: “There was like four or five kids, so we had to bring everybody out of the water. One of us called 911 and said, ‘I need medical service ASAP! There’s a shark…a shark bit the arm of a little kid!’”

Ms Lendel later gave an update via Instagram, telling followers that her daughter had undergone hours of surgery.

She said: “They had to get arteries from her leg to the hand. Got the blood flow back to her hand. Installed pins in bones. Still has open tissues. But thank God she can move her fingers.”

She added: “She is in the paediatric ICU. They’re monitoring her very closely for infection, for tissue damage, for blood flow. It’s going to be a long road.”

Leah’s uncle, Max Derinsky, said: “The doctors were able to do some miracles and put her hand back together. She will be in the hospital for a while and then a lot of physical therapy to hopefully get her hand functioning again.”

A GoFundMe page has been launched to help with Leah’s medical expenses.

A message on the page reads: “We’re thankful to Jesus for the quick response of emergency crews and the skill of the medical team. She is now stable and fighting hard for her road to recovery.”

It continues: “This journey will be long and full of physical and emotional healing.”

More than £31,000 ($40,000) had been raised at the time of writing.