Woman loses part of her leg after shark attack on South Padre Island, Texas

A Texas woman is speaking out after she and her husband were bitten by a shark on South Padre Island over the holiday weekend.

According to FOX affiliate KDFW and CBS affiliate KTVT, Tabatha Sullivent was hospitalized on July 4 after the shark attacked her left leg while she was standing in shallow water.

The Celina resident initially thought it was a large fish, but she quickly realized she was being attacked by a shark. “I tried to kick it away,” she recalled, according to KDFW. “And then I guess it grabbed me.”

According to KTVT, the shark ripped off a piece of Tabatha’s left calf. She then began screaming for help and tried to return to shore.

Tabatha’s husband Cary was also bitten twice by the shark when he tried to help his wife. Other passersby were able to help them out of the water.

According to KDFW, Tabatha is currently recovering at McAllen Hospital. According to KTVT, she will require multiple surgeries on her injured leg.

“My leg is pretty much gone,” Tabatha told KDFW. “(The bite) is down to the bone, it didn’t go through it.”

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Still, the woman from Texas is happy to be alive. “Someone or something was definitely watching over us,” she said.

According to a press release from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, four people came into contact with the shark off South Padre Island on July 4, including the two who were bitten.

Authorities said only two people were bitten, while two others merely “encountered” the animal.

“Encounters with sharks of this type are not common occurrences in Texas,” officials said in the release. “When shark bites do occur, they are usually a case of mistaken identity by sharks searching for food.”

Anyone who encounters large schools of bait near the shore or sees a shark in the water is asked to “quietly leave the water and wait until the predators have passed.”