A 16-year-old teenager, Annabelle Carlson, shared her terrifying experience of losing a leg in a shark attack while on a scuba diving trip in Belize. The incident occurred when she and her siblings were diving in the Gulf of Honduras near Half Moon Caye.
According to Annabelle, a shark suddenly approached her from under the boat, biting her hands. She tried to defend herself by throwing punches but realized she was being attacked by a shark. Despite her family’s efforts to rescue her by throwing a life ring, a second shark also bit her.
Annabelle described her leg as severely injured, with bone exposed from below her knee to her ankle. It took nearly an hour and a half to reach an island where she could be airlifted to the Belize Healthcare Partners hospital in Belize City.
After her leg was amputated at the hospital, Annabelle was transferred to a hospital in Miami for further treatment. She spent a month in the hospital and has since maintained a positive outlook on her recovery. Notably, she even dressed up as a shark attack survivor for Halloween, accompanied by a friend in a shark costume.
Following the incident, Annabelle’s mother, Kellie, expressed gratitude for her daughter’s survival and praised the medical team for their care. Despite the rarity of shark attacks in Belize, with only three unprovoked attacks recorded in the past century, Annabelle’s case is considered one of the most severe.
Shark attacks in Belize typically occur during recreational activities like scuba diving and spearfishing near popular dive sites such as the Blue Hole, Halfmoon Caye, and Ambergris Caye. It is important to note that incidents involving provoked actions, like spearfishing or bait-fishing, are not included in unprovoked attack statistics.