A woman in Florida lost her arm during a frightening alligator attack on Saturday. A nearby boater’s quick actions may have saved her life. The woman was swimming with a group on the Silver River near Ocala when an alligator appeared. She attempted to fend it off with a paddle, but the alligator grabbed her right arm and pulled her underwater.
John Gamache, who was having lunch on his boat with his father, heard the disturbance. “I looked just upriver from us a couple hundred feet and saw an alligator head way above the water and going full speed towards the swimmers,” he informed FOX 35 Orlando. Gamache immediately maneuvered his boat toward the scene, which seemed to scare off the alligator.
“It was a terrible injury, bones poking out, blood everywhere. Obviously, the minutes mattered,” Gamache described when he reached the injured woman.
With the woman losing blood, Gamache used a rope from his boat to fashion a tourniquet on her arm. His father assisted in getting the remaining swimmers, including children, onto the boat. They quickly made their way to a nearby boat launch, where first responders awaited.
The woman’s family reported to FOX 35 on Sunday that she survived the ordeal, had been discharged from the hospital, and is recovering at home. Despite losing her right arm, her family expressed relief, emphasizing the positive outcome under the circumstances.
Later, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation officers found and removed the 9-foot-8-inch alligator responsible for the attack. They reopened the area on Sunday.
This attack follows a similar incident in July involving Brittany Clark, who tragically lost her life after an alligator attack at Little Big Econ State Forest near Orlando. Clark, hiking with her boyfriend and a friend, entered the Econlockhatchee River to cool off when an alligator attacked her, severing one arm and severely injuring the other. Her boyfriend fought to free her but Clark did not survive.