A 20-year-old woman survived a harrowing attack by an alligator while she was snorkeling in Ocala, Florida, on Sunday.
A photographer happened to be in the area of the attack and captured the moments afterward, including one with the animal lurking in the background.
Marissa Carr told WOFL-TV that she went snorkeling with her friend Shane at Alexander Springs Recreation Area when she was suddenly bitten.
“I ripped the mask off and I turn and see the two little eyes sticking out of the water,” said Carr.
“I just heard a rush of water and I turned around to make sure she was OK. And I just saw the gator,” her friend said. “I saw her head in its mouth.”
Carr said it happened so fast, she didn’t even know that she had been hurt.
“It didn’t hurt bad in the moment. And then like, as I was running back and like, I saw what it was, that’s when it started hurting,” she said. “I was like, ‘My forehead hurts really bad and my neck isn’t like so much pain.'” [sic]
The Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission confirmed the attack to WOFL and said that an alligator trapper was sent to capture the animal, which turned out to be nine feet long.
Carr said that she could have received worse injuries had the alligator bitten her anywhere but on the snorkeling mask she was wearing.
“Sounds bad, but it biting my head is probably the best place that it could have been because, like, if it would have got my arm and that it would have got a better grip on my arm, and I could have lost my arm or just, like, my life in general,” she said.
“So, like, I think the head he didn’t get a good grip of it. So I think I’m genuinely just really, really lucky,” Carr added.
Here’s the interview from WOFL-TV:
Alligator attack: Gator bites woman’s head as she’s snorkeling in Florida riverwww.youtube.com
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