The dream vacation in the Bahamas of two young American tourists became a nightmare when they jumped hand in the sparkling blue waters and were attacked by a shark just minutes later.
The 20-year-old Rileigh Decker and the 24-year-old summer amateur were swimming on Friday evening in Bimini Bay, a popular resort area about 50 nautical miles off the coast of Florida.
The woman is now back in Florida and shares the miserable ordeal from Decker’s hospital bed after being bitten by what both women believe to be bull sharks.
“We are very grateful to be here with all our limbs,” Decker told NBC’s Today Show on Tuesday.
On that fateful day, the girls were jumping into the sea from their friend’s yacht, just after Decker said, “I’ll tweak my feet.”
“I was like, ‘Summer, what was it?” And she was like, ‘Don’t be scared of me like that.’ And maybe about two minutes later, we were by the ladder. I felt my legs drag and soon I knew I was by the sharks,” recalls Decker.
Their friends and family group quickly pulled them out of the water safely. They wrapped tourniquets around Decker’s right leg, and it turns out that the amateur was suffering in one bite.
“They yelled at me that the top of my feet were shredded and that they hadn’t noticed until I looked down,” Rayman said.
“I got my head and started praying that God would live without taking my life,” Decker said in tears. “Yeah, it was very scary.”
Decker was airlifted to a Bahamas hospital for further treatment. Both were stable and both returned to Florida for Decker to undergo surgery.
According to the Florida Museum’s International Shark Attack Database, the Bahamas is one of the highest shark incident rates in the world, with 34 untaunted attacks confirmed since record keeping began. In 2023, a 44-year-old Boston woman was killed after being bitten while paddleboarding in the Bahamas, and in April 2024, a 24-year-old man fell into the water and was attacked by two sharks seconds after being attacked. I did. Marina.
The woman said she wouldn’t enter the ocean any time soon.
“I’m not going into the water for a long time,” Rayman said.
“I will never do it. I will never even put my toes in again,” Decker echoed.
Decker is waiting for a third surgery in the Orlando area after enduring two surgeries to clean the wounds and verifying that they are infected. Both want to get a full recovery.
