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Instagram model attacked by shark while posing in Bahamas

The 19-year-old was swimming with the sharks while on vacation with her boyfriend and his family

Chelsea Ritschel

in New York

Thursday 26 July 2018 12:23 BST

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Aspiring model gets bitten while posing with sharks

An Instagram model has been bitten by a shark while posing for pictures in shark-infested waters.

Katarina Zarutskie from California, United States was visiting the Exuma Islands in the Bahamas when she decided to swim with a group of nurse sharks - a popular pastime that tourists to the area partake in at their own risk.

After spotting a gathering of the sharks, Zarutskie jumped in the water and began to float amongst the bottom-dwelling creatures.

According to Zarutskie, she'd seen photos of people doing the same thing on social media and figured it was safe.

However, the nursing student, who runs a popular lifestyle blog and has more than 45,000 followers, was bitten on her wrist moments after entering the water by a shark attempting to drag her under.

After finally freeing her arm from the shark’s mouth, Zarutskie covered the wound to stop the flow of blood from spreading through the water.

The terrifying ordeal, captured by her boyfriend’s dad on camera, shows Zarutskie struggling underwater as she attempts to escape the five-foot shark’s grip.

The attack happened while she was swimming in the Bahamas (Katarina Zarutskie)

She managed to wade out of the water, where she was then rushed to land.

“At that point, your body has so much adrenaline going and you just have to get out of the situation, but I stayed extremely calm,” she recalled to BBC News of the moments following the attack.

Although nurse sharks are typically docile and harmless to humans, they will attack defensively if they are being disturbed.

Zarutskie needed stitches after the attack (Katarina Zarutskie)

After sharing her story, Zarutskie faced ridicule over her decision to swim with the sharks, with many accusing her of being social media-obsessed.

Dismissing the backlash online, which she says has been spun to make her look like “a stupid blonde Instagram model," she rejected the claims that she was not supposed to be in the water or entered during feeding time.

And the 19-year-old has not let the experience put her off from travelling or nature.

The world’s best shark diving locations

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1/10The world’s best shark diving locations

The world’s best shark diving locations

Australia

There are many shark species which can be sighted off the coast of Australia, including great white sharks, grey nurse sharks and reef sharks, but Ningaloo Reef on the western side of the country offers the chance for you to get in the water with the world’s biggest fish, the whaleshark (pictured). From April to July, these massive creatures can be reliably found near the surface, gulping down huge mouthfuls of microscopic food, and this is when you can snorkel with the behemoths.

The world’s best shark diving locations

Great Britain

The good old UK has its own world-class shark encounter, and not just any shark, but the second-largest in the world - and best of all, you don’t even have to be a diver to see them! In the summer months, huge basking sharks (pictured) appear off the coast of Cornwall and around the Isle of Man, feeding on plankton at the surface, offering a close encounter to snorkellers.

The world’s best shark diving locations

Mexico

Mexico has several shark-diving spots up its sleeve. Guadalupe Island, which sits 150 miles west of the Baja Peninsula in the Pacific Ocean, is considered the ultimate location to cage-dive with great white sharks (pictured), blessed as it is with clear blue waters and plentiful food sources. On the other side of the country, in the waters off Playa del Carmen in Cancun, you can dive with migrating female bull sharks between November and March.

The world’s best shark diving locations

The Bahamas

The Bahamas is known as the shark-diving capital of the world, mainly due to the fact that Caribbean reef sharks (pictured) can be regularly sighted in the deep waters off the scattered islands, but more recently two specific areas have become a Mecca for shark divers. Tiger Beach, off the west coast of Grand Bahama, is a prime site all year round for - you guessed it - tiger sharks, which cruise in the shallow waters over an immense sandbank and will come extremely close to divers, while off Bimini, a similar sandbank is home to immense great hammerhead sharks in February.

The world’s best shark diving locations

Egypt

The Egyptian Red Sea is home to several species of shark, including grey reef, scalloped hammerhead, silvertip and even the odd whaleshark or tiger, but one of its most-majestic inhabitants is the oceanic whitetip (pictured). This highly distinctive shark, with its vast, rounded pectoral fins resembling airplane wings, can often be sighted off the offshore marine park islands of The Brothers, Daedalous and Elphinstone in the winter months, though they have been seen all year round.

The world’s best shark diving locations

South Africa

Mention ‘South Africa’ and ‘sharks’ and people immediately think ‘great white sharks’, but this country offers far more than just the opportunity to cage-dive with the ultimate apex predator off Dyer Island and Geyser Rock near Gansbaai. You can also get in among packs of blacktip sharks (pictured) and ragged tooth sharks off the KwaZulu-Natal coast on the eastern side of the continent, and of course, from May to July, this is a prime location to sample the Sardine Run, when billions of sardines migrate northwards and attract hundreds of sharks, not to mention whales, dolphins and other predators

Getty Images

The world’s best shark diving locations

Cuba

Bull sharks (pictured) are one of the most-feared of all shark species, mainly because they prey in the shallows, around estuaries and even miles upstream in rivers, which means they are more likely to come into contact with humans. However, off Santa Lucia on Cuba’s northeastern shore, between August and February, divers can view these awesome predators at close range, as a local dive centre routinely hand-feeds them with scraps of fish.

Getty Creative

The world’s best shark diving locations

Canary Islands, Spain

The Canary Islands, a sun-and-sand tourist hotspot, might seem an unlikely place for shark diving, but there is a species of shark that resides in these waters. The angel shark (pictured) is a placid, bottom-dwelling animal that closely resembles a ray at first glance. Growing up to two-and-a-half metres in length, they are hard to spot, often lying camouflaged on the seabed.

The world’s best shark diving locations

Galapagos Islands, Ecuador

The world-famous Galapagos Islands, an archipelago of volcanic islands sitting astride the Equator some 575 miles from the Ecuador coastline, have been in the top five best dive destinations on the planet ever since liveaboards started visiting here. Divers can expect up close and personal encounters with scalloped hammerhead sharks (pictured), Galapagos sharks, and even mighty whalesharks.

The world’s best shark diving locations

Cocos Islands, Costa Rica

The remote Cocos Islands - they lie some 340 miles off the coast of Costa Rica - are a magnet for divers seeking some serious shark action. Designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997, Cocos boasts various species of shark in its waters, but is most renowned for its massive shoals of scalloped hammerheads and whitetip reef sharks (pictured).

“I’m not afraid of the ocean and if anything I respect and love it more," she told BBC News. “You can't even predict how another human is going to react to situations, let alone an animal. I definitely will be thinking twice but it won't be scaring me away!"

Zarutskie’s wound, which still had fragments of teeth in it, required stitches and antibiotics - and it will likely scar.

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