A summer vacation took a turn for the worse when a mommy influencer’s young daughter was attacked by a shark in Florida – leaving her without her right hand.
Leah Lendel, nine, was snorkeling off the shore of Boca Grande with her mother Nadia and her siblings around noon on June 11, when she was bitten by the shark.
Bystanders said an eight-foot bullshark managed to bite off the girl’s right hand and part of her wrist. She emerged from the water on her own, completely covered in blood.
With the help of nearby construction workers, the fashion blogger family called 911 and created a tourniquet out of a beach towel to stop the bleeding.
Lendel, with her father, was airlifted to Tampa, 100 miles away and admitted for emergency surgery in hopes of reattaching the hand.
One of the construction workers, Alfonso Tello, told local outlets: ‘When we see that little girl come out from the water with no hand, it was like something out – it gets me. Everybody was in shock.’
Tello and his coworkers were on lunch break when he heard the girl’s scream. The men rushed to the water to help, unaware they had just witnessed a shark attack.
A summer vacation took a turn for the worse when Leah Lendel (pictured) was attacked by a shark
Lendel was snorkeling off the shore of Boca Grande with her mother and siblings around noon on Wednesday
Tello’s coworker Raynel Lugo told WINK, ‘The hand, it was just hanging by this piece
‘The whole thing was completely hanging out.’
‘You can see bones all completely red.’
Her mother, Nadia Lendel, an Instagram blogger with almost 100,000 followers, posted an update to her supporters just after the attack.
‘Please keep our family in your prayers. Leah got bit by a shark today while snorkeling.
‘She has to get airlifted to the hospital and is undergoing surgery.’
In her update to a CBS affiliate, Nadia said: ‘They had to get arteries from her leg to the hand.
‘Got the blood flow back to her hand. Install pins in bones. Still has open tissues.
‘They will be monitoring her here for a week. But thank God she can move her fingers.’
With the help of nearby construction workers, the family (with Leah Lendel pictured top row left) called 911 and created a tourniquet out of a beach towel to stop the bleeding
Her mother, Nadia Lendel, an Instagram blogger with just under 100 thousand followers, posted an update to her supporters just after the attack
Alfonso Tello, told local outlets, ‘When we see that little girl come out from the water with no hand, it was like something out – it gets me. Everybody was in shock’
She emerged from the water, on her own, completely covered in blood. Pictured: The family’s beach inflatable
Leah Lendel’s uncle Max Derinsky also offered NBC News further details on the girl’s condition: ‘The doctors were able to do some miracles and put her hand back together.
‘She will be in the hospital for a while and then a lot of physical therapy to hopefully get her hand functioning again.’
In Boca Grande, May through July is known as tarpon season, when the large fish are most populous around the island. Their most active period also coincides with shark mating season.
The Boca Grande Fire Department Chief CW Blosser told local news outlets that in his time as chief, he’d only seen two shark attacks. Both of them were during tarpon season.
According to data half of United States shark attacks in 2024 took place in Florida. Although that number was still relatively low, with 14 cases reported in Florida, according to the University of Florida.
Daily Mail reached out to Nadia Lendel for comment.
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