German tourist dies in shark attack off Canary Islands

A German tourist has died in a shark attack off Spain's Canary Islands. The 30-year-old lost her leg in the shark attack and died of her injuries in the rescue helicopter the previous evening, the coastguard announced yesterday. The attack occurred while the German was travelling on a British catamaran. Shark attacks are extremely rare in this area.

The incident happened while the German tourist was travelling about 500 kilometres (310 miles) southwest of Gran Canaria on the British-flagged catamaran Dalliance Chichester, a coastguard spokesman told AFP. The 17-metre-long Dalliance Chichester left the port of Las Palmas on Saturday, according to ship tracking website shipfinder.com.

helicopter rescue

According to the information, the Spanish authorities were informed at 2:55 p.m. that a “medical evacuation” was needed. After they also informed the Moroccan rescue workers, they decided to send a helicopter and a Spanish military plane to assist the boat’s crew.

At around 8pm, the seriously injured German was taken by helicopter to a hospital in Las Palmas, the capital of the Canary Islands. However, on the way there, the 30-year-old suffered a cardiac arrest.

The Canary Islands are a group of islands in the Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of Africa. Shark attacks are very rare here. According to a study by the University of Florida's International Shark Attack Database, “unprovoked” shark attacks increased worldwide in 2023. According to this, there were 69 shark attacks last year without an apparent cause, and in 2022 there were 63.