A 44-year-old Massachusetts woman was attacked and killed by a shark while paddleboarding in the Bahamas just a day after getting married.
Lauren Erickson Van Wart, 44, and her new husband were paddleboarding off the coast of the five-star Sandals Royal Bahamian Resort on New Providence late Monday morning when the attack happened, according to ZNS Bahamas, a Bahamian public broadcast service.
Police said CPR was administered to Van Wart. However, she suffered "serious injuries to the right side of her body including the right hip region and also her right upper limb," Sergeant Desiree Ferguson told local media.
A Jet Ski operator, who was on the beach during the attack, told the Nassau Guardian newspaper he saw the shark pull Van Wart under water.
"I mean it was crazy, because, like I said, I watched them push out from the beach. They were laughing and talking. They [were] side by side and laughing and talking," he said. "When I saw it was only the guy standing on the board, I said she must have fallen off. Then you could actually hear the faint shouts of him screaming for help."
Reports indicate she was about three-quarters of a mile away from the shore when the attack happened.
Van Wart was just married the day before the attack, ZNS Bahamas reported. According to Daily Mail, Van Wart and her husband were at the resort on a day pass from a cruise.
It was not immediately clear what type of shark attacked the woman. The incident remains under investigation.