‘I could see her hand hanging’: Mom recalls moment 10-year-old daughter was bitten by shark

BOCA GRANDE, Fla. (WBBH) – A 10-year-old girl survived a shark bite while she was snorkeling in Boca Grande, Florida on Wednesday.

Bodycam video from police shows officers talking with the girl’s mother, Nadia Lendel, shortly after her daughter was bitten.

Lendel told the officer that her daughter, Leah, was snorkeling just a few feet from her in water about four feet deep.

She said suddenly, her daughter popped out of the water.

“I could see her hand hanging. Like, a piece, and just blood everywhere,” Lendel tells the officer in the bodycam video.

Witnesses nearby jumped into action to help.

A group of construction workers were working on a home along the shore just steps away from Leah and her family.

Alfonso Tello said he and the crew saw the shark as soon as Leah was bitten.

“So, it was a big shark, like eight feet. I would say like eight feet,” Tello said.

Raynel Lugo, another construction worker, jumped in to help. He used a towel as a tourniquet on Leah’s arm to stop the bleeding, and he stayed by her side to keep her calm.

“I was talking to her. I was telling her that, ‘What’s your name? How are you? I got a daughter just like you. What a beautiful day,’” Lugo said.

Leah was flown to a local hospital where she had a six-hour surgery.

Her mom said surgeons were able to put her hand back together, which had been mostly torn off.

“They had to get arteries from her leg to the hand, got the blood flow back to her hand. Install pins in bones. Still has open tissues. They will be monitoring her for a week. But thank God, she can move her fingers,” Lendel said.

The Boca Grande fire chief confirmed the girl’s injuries were consistent with a shark bite, though the shark was gone by the time first responders arrived.

Beachgoers are advised to remain vigilant while in the water.

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