A teenager who was involved in a shark attack has blasted bystanders that were standing around filming the horrific incident.
On March 6, Kaylanne Timoteo Freitas from Brazil was involved in an attack on Piedade Beach in Jaboatao dos Guararapes that saw her lose her arm. As per the Independent, the 15-year-old was swimming just off the beach when a shark latched onto her stomach. As she tried to fight off the creature, it bit her again, tearing her arm off near her left elbow.
According to The Daily Star, Freitas described the ordeal as a "nightmare."
"At the time, I thought someone was playing a prank on me because there were many people around me," she told local news outlets. "I still had doubts. I thought, 'this isn’t happening to me. It’s a nightmare.' I thought I was going to wake up. It was only in the ambulance that it sunk in."
Freitas recalled that a young man had helped her by dragging her back onto the beach before calling emergency services. The teen was left screaming in agony and upon seeing all the blood, she started panicking.
Despite her struggle, it seems as though some bystanders had absolutely no sympathy for her situation and instead, they pulled out their phones to take videos and pictures of her bleeding arm.
"No one respected me at the time," she said. "I understand that it’s something that everyone wants to record, to show what’s happening. But at the time, I wasn’t thinking about that. I just thought I was going to lose my arm for the rest of my life."
Her father expressed similar disgust with the public's reaction to his daughter's injury.
"During the attack, there were people filming instead of helping, aside from the comments. That’s what killed me inside," he said.
Freitas has since undergone surgery after losing her arm and is still battling excruciating pain as well as nightmares of the attack.
"For 15 years of my life, I had my entire arm," she said. "I’ve been reborn and will have to relearn everything all over again."
The news comes just a day after a similar incident occurred just 500 meters away from where Freitas was injured.
As per The Sun, 24 hours before her attack, a 14-year-old boy was swimming approximately 1,600 feet from where Freitas would later lose her arm. He was also bitten by a shark, leaving him with injuries that forced local medical staff to amputate his right leg.
Marcelo Alves, a paramedic who responds to emergency calls, told local media beachgoers have been warned not to swim in the water.
"The team is already alert about these events that have been happening. Unfortunately, there is a law that says that swimming is not allowed, but people insist on going into the sea," he added.
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