A 31-year-old woman has died after a horrific alligator attack in Florida. The hiker lost her arm when the reptile, estimated between 12 and 13 feet long, clamped its jaws around both of her arms. The attack occurred on Sunday, June 28, while she was hiking with her boyfriend and best friend near Orlando.
Attack in shallow waters
The group decided to take a break at the Econlockhatchee River, cooling down in the shallow, three-foot-deep water. Around 1:30 p.m., they were startled by the alligator, which grabbed both of the woman's arms. Her boyfriend desperately tried to free her, calling emergency services, but the beast tore off one limb and severely mauled the other, according to the Daily Star.
Wildlife official Grant Eller, a lieutenant with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, said in a briefing that the group was kneeling in shallow water when the attack occurred. Eller noted that the boyfriend was “trying to get her arms away from the alligator's mouth” when he called 911.
Emergency call reveals horror
In the 911 recording obtained by NBC News, the boyfriend can be heard screaming and crying. Another woman described the scene, telling the dispatcher: “Ok, both her arms, both her arms, both her arms are off, like, basically.” When asked if her arms were still attached, she replied: “One of them is, like, very hanging on [by a] thread, and the other was off.” Asked where the missing arm had gone, she simply said: “Gone.”
The call captured further screams as the woman's partner and friend carried her and tried to flag down arriving rescuers, according to the Mirror. Eller stated that the woman, a resident of Orlando, died before reaching a hospital. Authorities were still working to contact her family, who did not live in Florida.
Alligators captured and tested
Seminole County sheriff's deputies, with the help of a professional trapper, “harvested” two alligators seen near the scene. Both were enormous—13 and 12 feet long respectively. DNA from both reptiles has been sent for lab analysis to identify the attacker.
The deadly assault is among multiple incidents in central Florida in the past week. Alligators become particularly aggressive after their mating season, which had just concluded.
