Overview

• The shark bit 9-year-old Leah Lendel around 12 p.m. on June 10 while she snorkeled in the 2200 block of Shore Lane in Boca Grande, Florida.
• Her mother and uncle described how the bite tore her hand mostly off and covered it in blood.
• Construction workers on a lunch break improvised a tourniquet from a towel and called 911 after hearing her screams.
• She was airlifted to a Tampa hospital where surgeons used leg arteries and bone pins to reattach her hand in a lengthy operation.
• She remains hospitalized for monitoring and will undergo extensive physical therapy in hopes of regaining hand function.