Photo: Chase Baker // Unsplash
A Minnesota woman has died after losing her arm in an apparent shark attack off the coast of the U.S. Virgin Islands. As CBS News reports, the victim has been identified as 56-year-old Arlene Lillis of Lake Detroit, Minnesota.
First responders were called to Dorsch Beach around 4:28 p.m. on Thursday, following reports of a shark attack, according to a statement from the Virgin Islands Police Department. When they arrived, Lillis had already been taken out of the water by bystanders.
One of those bystanders was Christopher Carroll, who described the harrowing experience of retrieving Lillis in an interview with The Virgin Islands Consortium.
“I was in my hotel room and I heard screaming coming from the beach,” he recounted. “So I ran downstairs to see if someone needed medical assistance, because I’m a nurse. I saw there was a woman in distress in the water. Everyone was pointing at her. I had been a lifeguard when I was younger, so I swam out to try and help. When I got to her, I saw a large amount of blood in the water and realized that it was a shark attack. I got ahold of her, started towing her back to the beach and then I noticed she had a horrible, traumatic wound to her left arm. It was gone from the elbow down. The only thing was her humerus bone. All of the flesh was gone. She was pale [and had] blue lips. She said her name was Arlene. I told her she was going to make it, I swam her back to shore as quickly as I could and then a bunch of people helped get her up on the beach.”
From there, St. Croix first responders arrived and evacuated her in an ambulance, but Lillis would later die from her injuries.
“Our hearts are with the family and loved ones of the victim, and with everyone who witnessed this tragedy,” U.S. Virgin Islands Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. said in a statement. “We have been briefed on the information known at this time, and we are grateful to the bystanders who acted immediately to render aid and to the first responders who worked urgently and bravely in an effort to save her life.”
