The woman was helped by lifeguards after her leg was bitten by the shark during a snorkeling trip organized by a local tour company. The trip had been organized to give people a close-up view of blue sharks, one of several shark species known to migrate from the Atlantic to the west coast of Cornwall during the summer months. But at some point during the dive one of the predators – believed to be a blue – is understood to have turned and bit the woman. A spokesman for the Maritime and Coastguard Service said: “HM Coastguard dispatched the Penzance Coastguard Rescue Team to meet a swimmer suspected of being bitten by a shark. “The coast guard was notified just before 12.30 noon on Thursday, July 28. The swimmer is believed to have suffered a leg injury. “The coastguard team met the casualty in Penzance harbor to help hand him over to the care of the ambulance service.”
“Blue shark attacks extremely rare”
Details of the incident have only just emerged and the woman has not been named, with no details yet on where she had traveled from or if the shark came into contact with other divers at the party. Shark attacks are extremely rare in the UK and, in recent decades, environmentalists have worked to change the public perception that sharks pose a threat to humans. It is thought that of the approximately 475 species of shark, only 12 are actually known to pose a threat to humans.
