FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A South Florida woman is recovering after suffering an apparent shark bite in the Intracoastal Waterway off Fort Lauderdale.
Broward Health Medical Center officials said Tuesday that 22-year-old Jessica Vaughn was resting comfortably after undergoing a two-hour surgery a day earlier.
Doctors say Vaughn sustained puncture wounds, as well as an open wound where muscle damage occurred. No blood vessels or nerves were damaged. She is expected to be in a splint for three or four weeks.
Officials say Vaughn was swimming from a boat to an inner tube Sunday when she felt like she was punched in the leg. Vaughn was then struck in the face by the fin of what was thought to be a shark.
Friends pulled the woman back into the boat, and Fort Lauderdale Fire-Rescue met them at a nearby dock.
