A frightened holidaymaker was rushed out of the sea in Majorca after she suffered a gash to her leg following reports of a shark attack – with beachgoers warned to get out of the water
A popular beach in Majorca has been evacuated following reports of a shark attack.
An Italian woman, aged 85, had blood dripping from her leg as she frantically got out of the water this morning. The horror accident happened at the beach in Playa de Palma at around 11.30am. Police said some of her skin had been mauled off but it didn’t harm her muscle tissue. She was treated at the scene and then rushed to a private clinic in Palma.
Holidaymakers were ordered to get out of the sea as lifeguards issued an alert via a speaker in English. They said: “Swimming is forbidden in the area for a shark attack, shark attack.”
Lifeguards on jet skis were later seen patrolling the sea in search of what could have caused her injury as worried holidaymakers looked on from the shoreline. The part of the beach where the drama occurred is known as Balneario 6.
Sunbathers were allowed back into the water around an hour after the incident with lifeguards finding no sign of a biue shark, stingray or triggerfish or anything else that has been suggested as the cause of the woman’s wounds.
Marine biodiversity expert Aniol Esteban told local press based on photos of the injury: “Our hypothesis is that the attack may have bene caused by a bluefish.” Other marine biologists said it had all the hallmarks of an attack by a triggerfish, colourful, oval-shaped marine fish which usually inhabit tropical and sub-tropical oceans and have a strong-jawed mouth with teeth adapted for crushing shells.
Blue sharks rarely bite humans but have been implicated in several biting incidents. Such reports have forced the temporary closure of beaches on the Costa del Sol and Costa Blanca in recent years.
In July 2016, a blue shark was blamed for an attack on a 40-year-old holidaymaker in Elche near Alicante – which saw the victim rushed to hospital where he received stitches to a wound in his hand. First aiders described the bite as “large” and said he had come out of the sea with blood streaming from the injury.
In June 2023, a fully grown blue shark measuring some seven feet caused panic off the Costa Blanca beach of Aguamarina in Orihuela Costa south of Alicante. Bathers were filmed trying to run to safety through waist-high water as it neared the shoreline. Lifeguards blew on their whistles to warn locals and holidaymakers about the big fish and urge them to get out of the sea as quickly as possible.
One woman, thought to have been an elderly person seen being helped out of the water by Good Samaritans, is said to have suffered a panic attack after realising the shark was beside her. It washed up dead the following day by rocks at La Caleta Beach in Cabo Roig a couple of miles away. The same day it emerged the same species of shark had been spotted inside Ciutadella Port in Menorca.