In the Turks & Caicos Islands, a Canadian tourist’s hands were bit off by a shark she was attempting to photograph.
At 10:33 a.m. on Feb. 7, 55-year-old Canadian tourist Nathalie Ross was enjoying her vacation at a Caribbean beach when she was attacked by a shark. She was wading in the shallows “only a few metres from the shoreline,” trying to get a photo of a six-foot-long shark.
This was at the popular tourist destination Thompson’s Cove Beach in the waters adjacent to Blue Hills, Providenciales, a part of the Turks & Caicos Islands.
The shark, which reports suggest may have been a bull or tiger shark, bit off both of Ross’ hands and a piece of her thigh.
Ross was able to make it back to shore while her husband reportedly fought off the shark, which continued to lurk nearby, still only feet away from where the Ross’ had huddled, tending to her life-threatening injuries.
The Canadian tourist was rushed to Cheshire Hall Medical Centre for treatment, where she was stabilized and later flown off-island for further medical care in Canada. Ross lost both of her hands, with one amputated at the wrist and the other halfway up her forearm.
According to one witness, the shark remained nearby after the attack: “I was there for 40 minutes, and it was still lingering.”
The beach was closed for two days until it was on Feb. 9 that the shark had swum on to deeper waters and the beach was deemed safe.determined on Feb. 9 that the shark had swum on to deeper waters and the beach was deemed safe.
Some local residents who spoke to Magnetic Media believed the shark to be a “man-eater.”
The Turks & Caicos Islands Government shared a press release from the Department of Environment and Coastal Resources urging the public to always “be aware of your surroundings, follow local advisories and respect marine life. Swim in designated areas, avoid murky waters, never swim alone and do not attempt to feed marine wildlife under any circumstances.”
The waters around the Turks & Caicos Islands are home to many different species of sharks, including grey reef sharks, nurse sharks, tiger sharks and bull sharks. Besides the great white shark, tiger and bull sharks are considered the most aggressive shark species and most likely to attack humans. Because of its location, size and aggressive nature, the shark that attacked Nathalie Ross was deemed to likely be a bull shark, and was later confirmed to be a bull shark.
Nathalie Ross’ brother-in-law Ralph Chevarie has organized a GoFundMe campaign with a goal of $50,000 to support Ross and help pay for prosthetics. As of writing, the campaign has already raised over $45,000.
Chevarie wrote a message on the GoFundMe page intended for the media, asking them to stop harassing their friends and family, stop contacting him and stop sending him friend requests. He said there will be no more comments seeing as they all suffered a horrible nightmare that completely altered their lives. Chevarie also included in the message that his brother, Nathalie Ross’ husband, had served more than 30 years in the Canadian Armed Forces.
On Feb. 21, Chevarie posted a comment saying he had to shut off the contact button on the GoFundMe page because he was getting harassed with foul language and pummelled with “accusations of fraud by people who swallowed the whole untrue and completely made-up story from the tourism organization of the Turk and Caicos Islands.” This is likely referring to the reporting that showed Nathalie trying to take a photo with the shark, since the GoFundMe doesn’t say anything about the victim’s attempt to photograph the shark, instead implying the shark was unprovoked and that Ross held up her hands in defence.