A teenage girl who faced a harrowing shark attack in the waters off Florida has shared her experience of the traumatic event where the predator tore off her hand and leg, and how she managed to survive against the odds.
15-year-old Lulu Gribbins, from Alabama, was vacationing with her family in Florida when she was attacked in the shallow waters of Seacrest Beach in South Walton, while standing waist-deep.
In an interview with This Morning on ITV, Lulu recounted the frightening moment her friend shouted ‘shark!’ as they were in the sea.
“I was in shock and we had no idea what was going to happen next. Well, the shark bit off my left hand and my right leg,” the courageous teen recounted.
On that fateful day, her sister Ellie was also in the water and quickly ran to the shore when the alarm was raised.
Ellie added to her sister’s story, saying: “I turned around and saw a pool of blood and immediately knew something was wrong, moments later I realized it was my twin sister.”
Officials suspect that the shark involved in Lulu’s attack was a bull shark, a species commonly found in Florida’s waters. The state is notorious for its high frequency of shark attacks, accounting for about 30 percent of global incidents annually.
In the TV interview, she stated, “I just remember seeing a big shadow in the water, and that’s all I can really remember before we started swimming for our lives.”
Lulu mentioned she had initially called for everyone to stay calm and stop swimming, thinking this was the logical move, based on movies. Unfortunately, this decision left her the farthest from the shore.
The subsequent events were a whirlwind, as she explained: “I remember standing up out of the water and just raising my arm out of the water and seeing that there was no hand there. The shark had bitten it off until there was just flesh and bone.”
“I could never feel the shark bite it because I was in so much shock but it was crazy to look down and see that there was no hand there,” she added.
Amazingly, despite losing her leg and hand to the shark, she managed to get away. This was due to a courageous stranger who intervened upon witnessing the attack.
The man, known only as ‘Steven’, swam to Lulu’s aid and struck the shark ‘in the eyes’. Lulu expressed feeling ‘blessed’ by his brave actions.
Despite Steven’s heroic efforts, Lulu had lost two-thirds of her blood by the time she was airlifted to North Carolina for urgent medical attention.
Doctors were astonished by her survival given the extent of her injuries, and she was later equipped with a prosthetic hand and leg.
Remarkably, Lulu reflected on the 77 days she spent recovering in the hospital, saying she felt ‘so grateful’ for what she still had. She remarked, “There were so many patients worse off than me. I still had a working hand, a working leg, and even a working brain.”
After the attack, Lulu has participated in various sports, including golf, and now aspires to compete in the Paralympics.