Royal Caribbean Passenger Killed In Shark Attack On Snorkeling Excursion

A female passenger onboard a Royal Caribbean cruise was killed in a shark attack while on a snorkeling excursion with her family in the Bahamas on Tuesday.

The 58-year-old woman, who was a mother from Pennsylvania, was snorkeling near Green Cay off the coast of Nassau, Bahamas, when a bull shark attacked the victim's "upper extremities," Royal Bahamas Police Superintendent Chrislyn Skippings told CNN.

The local tour company managing the snorkeling excursion said the woman was pulled onto the boat and rushed to the nearest dock, where paramedics arrived, Skippings told CNN. There were no vital signs of life when the paramedics responded.

In a statement, Royal Caribbean told the Associated Press that the women died after arriving at a local hospital for treatment. The cruise line said she was participating in an independent shore excursion in Nassau.

The victim was traveling with family members on a seven-night cruise onboard the Harmony of the Seas ship. The cruise had departed Port Canaveral, Florida, on Sunday, the AP said.

The beach where the incident occurred has been closed as an investigation is underway, CNN reported.

In total, at least 32 shark attacks have been reported in the Bahamas since 1749, according to the Florida-based International Shark Attack File.

Two other reports of shark attacks in the Bahamas happened in 2019. One of the attacks was fatal, with a Southern California woman attacked by three sharks near Rose Island – a half mile from the Green Cay attack.

Globally there were 137 shark attacks in 2021, the International Shark Attack File indicated. Eleven of the attacks were fatal.