Shark tried to ‘swallow’ tourist’s arm ‘whole’

A SWIMMER incredibly managed to fight off a shark off the Canary Islands. But then it came back for more.

A TERRIFIED Spanish tourist was left with serious wounds after a three-metre shark tried to bite her arm on Christmas Day.

Cristina Ojeda-Thies had a lucky escape when the shark grabbed her in its jaws.

The panicked 38-year-old managed to swim away after the initial bite, only for the enormous shark to come back for more.

But Ojeda-Thies eventually scared the shark off when she smacked it around the head with her right arm.

Ojeda-Thie, who is from Madrid in Spain, was on holiday in Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands when she was attacked at Arinaga Beach on the island’s east coast.

She had gone for a swim with after enjoying a Christmas Day meal with relatives.

Ouch ... Cristina Ojeda-Thies fought the shark off by hitting it in the head. Picture: Twitter

Recalling her horror to a local paper, said: “I noticed something pulling at my left arm but I didn’t pay any attention because it felt like a dog biting you when it’s playing.

“I returned to the shoreline swimming crawl and I felt another pull again, more intense this time.

“Half a second later I felt something grabbing hold of me, I turned round and I saw it pulling at me. It was a fish.

“I hit it with my right hand and I saw the shark’s fins as it swam off.

“As I turned round I saw it was a big greyish-brown fish and when I hit it I noticed it had hard, rough skin.

“But it’s true it was something that frightened me. Thankfully I was able to react.

“I was still in the sea when I put my head underwater to see if it was following me and to look where I could escape to nearer the shoreline and I didn’t see it again.”

Lucky escape ... Spanish tourist, Cristina Ojeda-Thies, was swimming with relatives when she was attacked by the three-metre shark. Picture: Twitter

Local experts said the predator was probably a silky shark — which are found in tropical and warm seas all over the world.

Pascual Calabuig, director of the Wild Fauna Recovery Centre in Gran Canaria, described the incident as “very rare”.

Fernando Frias, president of the Canary Islands Shark Alliance, called it a “one-off”.

Fernando visited Cristina after her attack, and said: “It’s bitten her two or three times trying to swallow her arm whole and has not been able to.”

The Canary Islands plays host to around four million British visitors a year, with roughly 700,000 of them heading to Gran Canaria.