Shark attacks five-year-old girl floating in rubber ring

The victim has suffered 'significant' soft tissue damage

Pirates Beach where the girl was attacked by a shark (Google Maps)

A five-year old girl floating in a rubber ring has been attacked by a shark.

The victim, who has not been named, was in the water with her father and brother off Pirates Beach in Gavelston, Texas.

The girl’s father said he heard her scream while in the water and turned to see a shark, measuring up to 4ft long.

After the girl’s father rescued her from the water, bystanders managed to make a tourniquet from a dog lead in an attempt to stop the bleeding.

“That tourniquet… definitely made an impact on this little girl’s condition,” Nathan Jung, Galveston County Health District told ABC 13.

She was taken to University of Texas Medical Branch.

The victim, who is from Kerrville, Texas, is reported to have suffered “significant” soft tissue damage but is described as being in a stable condition, according to Galveston Country Health District EMS.

The attack is the first in the area since October 2013 when a 13-year-old boy was bitten after he was surrounded by a school of fish while swimming 25 yards offshore.

In 2015, there as an all-time high of 98 unprovoked human shark attacks across the world, according to the International Shark Attack File.

There has not been a fatal shark attack in Texas since 1963, according to Shark Attack Data.