A 16-year-old Colorado girl survived being attacked by two sharks while on vacation.
“I would never anticipate I would be attacked by a shark, but here I am,” Annabelle Carlson told Nexstar’s KDVR.
Not one shark, but two, attacked Carlson, who resides in Aspen and was on a family vacation in Belize in August 2025 when it happened.
“We really loved to travel as a family, and that was like our big, fun vacation of the summer,” Carlson said.
Three days into the trip, Carlson and her mom dived 120 feet deep into the dark ocean, noting that her family loves scuba diving together, and are certified divers.
“There were probably like three or four sharks that we saw,” Carlson said. “And we also saw some really cool fish.”
After their scuba diving adventure, Carlson and her mom got back on the boat to join Carlson’s siblings, who wanted to take turns jumping off the top deck.
“I decided to go first,” Carlson said. “And when I jumped and hit the water, a shark came from under the boat and started biting my hands.”
Survival instincts kicked in as Carlson hit and punched the shark about six times.
“So we were face to face and it was only biting my hands at this point,” Carlson said. “The other dive group was still in the water as this was happening and they threw me a life ring. My hands were pretty mangled so I couldn’t really grab it but I did a loop with my arms. And as they were pulling me in, another shark came and bit my right leg.”
Carlson said people started throwing oxygen tanks at the shark to try to get it off of her, so she could get back on the boat.
“And that’s when we realized that the boat itself, the first aid kit, didn’t actually have the right medical equipment for life-saving measures. So this guy — who I’m so thankful for — that was a tourist in our dive group threw me a tourniquet that he had. They put that on my leg to stop the bleeding,” said Carlson.
Carlson said she had to fight to stay conscious for the hour-and-a-half boat ride to an island where a helicopter and emergency responders rushed her to a hospital.
“It was like the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do in my life was stay awake, because at that point I didn’t really realize that me falling asleep would mean falling unconscious and possibly not making it out,” said Carlson.
Once stabilized, she spent a month in a Miami hospital for treatment. When she finally got home to Aspen, she realized something was wrong with her leg.
“The shark, when it bit me, the bite was from my ankle to just below my knee. And from there, this is kind of like graphic, but it was mostly just bone,” said Carlson. “It, like, took all the flesh. And I guess that big of an open wound gave way to an infection.”
She was rushed to Children’s Hospital Colorado to treat a “one-in-a-million” mycobacterial infection.
“We’ve had to take her back for multiple surgeries because of that infection,” Dr. Julia Sanders, Director of Pediatric Orthopedic Trauma at Children’s Hospital Colorado, told KDVR. “And so that has just set her back again and again. But she is already back running on a prosthetic limb, working out. She does pilates. She’s just an incredible kid. She’s been back scuba diving. So really just a reminder of how resilient kids can be.”
“I would just say that everything happens for a reason and you’re always going to make it out of it,” said Carlson, who underwent about a dozen surgeries and has another scheduled in about a month. “There’s always going to be light at the end of the tunnel.”
She has big, athletic and altruistic ambitions ahead.
“One of my biggest goals is to be able to start a foundation to donate first aid kits to boats and camps and just people who need them because that’s what saved my life,” Carlson said. “If I didn’t get a tourniquet, I wouldn’t be here today.”
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