An American teenager lost her right leg to a shark attack while on a diving expedition on vacation in Belize, local Coast Guard officials reported.
Sofia Carlson was diving near the Lighthouse Reef in Halfmoon Caye in the Gulf of Honduras on Tuesday when the attack occurred, ABC News and local media reported.
"It was her right leg that received a bite from the shark," Adm. Elton Bennett of the Belize Coast Guard told ABC. "She lost her right leg."
Dive boat operators pulled Carlson from the water and rushed her to the closest Coast Guard base, where she was stabilized before being airlifted to a hospital.
"She's stable and she's recovering at this time," Bennett told ABC Thursday.
There were no further details about the teen or what kind of shark is suspected of attacking her.
Officials emphasized that such attacks in the waters around Belize are rare.
Belize Minister Andre Perez said it was perhaps the first such attack ever recorded, local Channel 7 News Belize reported.
"We are very saddened by it, but I want to highlight that this is something that is very rare and I don't think this is the time for us to say, you know we won't go swimming again or something," he added.
"There must be some other reason [why it] happened, but it is too early to say right now," said Perez.
