Woman, 30, dies in horror shark attack after beast bit off her leg while she was sailing on catamaran off Canary Islands

A WOMAN has died in a horror shark attack after a beast bit off her leg while she was sailing on a catamaran off the Canary Islands.

The 30-year-woman from Germany died in a Spanish Air Force helicopter as she was being evacuated to a Gran Canaria hospital.

A Spanish coastguard helicopter

She was pronounced dead after arriving at Doctor Negrin Hospital in the Gran Canaria capital Las Palmas last night.

The woman is said to have had her leg bitten off by the shark as she was on a catamaran in international waters 278 miles south-west of Gran Canaria’s airport.

The catamaran has been named as the British-flagged Dalliance Chichester, which had left the Canaries on September 14.

Spanish coastguards are said to have informed UK coastguards because of the origin of the catamaran.

According to local reports, Moroccan authorities refused to transfer the injured woman to Rabat for emergency medical treatment.

The unnamed woman was pronounced dead yesterday just after 11pm after going into cardiac arrest in the Spanish military chopper.

The shark attack is understood to have happened around 4pm the same day.

The catamaran is said to have sent a Mayday around 3.55pm yesterday.

Spanish coastguards reacted by alerting nearby vessels about the emergency.

One ended up approaching Dalliance Chichester to give other crew members medicine for the injured woman.

The injured woman boarded the Spanish Air Force helicopter just after 8pm.

It was not immediately clear this evening how the attack occurred.

There have been no documented previous shark attacks in the area where yesterday’s incident took place.

Dalliance Chichester is a 17 metre-long, eight metre-wide pleasure craft.