A 22-year-old woman suffered severe injuries after being bitten by a shark while swimming in the intracoastal waters in Fort Lauderdale on Sunday afternoon, Fire Rescue reported.
The woman, Jessica Vaughn, was inner tubing with a friend at the Intracoastal Waterway near Bayshore Drive around 2 p.m. in Florida when a shark attacked her leg, NBC News reported.
After feeling something touch her leg in the water, Vaughn was hit in the face by a fin, said Chantel Botting, division chief for Fort Lauderdale Fire-Rescue.
"I turned around when I heard the splash and I saw the fin caught in the face," friend Nick Russo said.
Kyle Branston, who was tubing next to her, said Vaughn first thought she had been cut by glass. As panic spread, the group realized that a shark was lurking in the waters, Sky News reported.
"She said something bit her or cut her, and I first thought she was joking," Branston said.
"My instinct is: I'm in the water, she's bit by a shark and she's bleeding everywhere. There's nowhere for me to go, I'm next to her, I could be next."
The shark's teeth had cut deep into Vaughn's leg, shredding muscle and exposing bone in a half-moon shaped wound.
After Vaughn was helped on to a boat by her friends, she saw what appeared to be a large bite mark on her leg, according to officials.
"One side is all cut in and the other side you can see the teeth marks, I mean it's a full, full bite mark," friend Kyle Branston said.
After they began shouting for help, someone nearby called 911. Vaughn was immediately taken to Broward General Hospital for treatment.
"She's doing good. She's out of surgery, some muscle and tendon damage but they repaired everything and some stitches and she'll be alright," boyfriend Peter Hogge said.
A fundraising website has been set up for her in appeal for donations.
