US tourist, 73, loses leg in Bahamas shark attack while climbing onto boat

After a diving trip, a woman from Iowa who was on vacation in the Bahamas had her leg severed by a shark in a brutal attack, coming close to dying from excessive bleeding.

Heidi Ernst, 73, was underwater exploring near Taino Beach on June 7 when a shark bit her left calf.

The assault occurred while Ernst, a skilled deep-sea diver who had recently finished her 500th underwater exploration in May, was climbing up a ladder to reboard the boat.

The KCCI news station in Iowa informed Ernst that she could see the predator thrashing in the water, scaring her enough to make her hand it over and hit it.

Upon returning to the boat, Ernst immediately realized that her leg was beyond saving.

Experiencing intense agony, she was fearful that her life was coming to an end and was experiencing severe bleeding. She shared during a separate conversation with The Gazette while confined to her hospital bed in Miami, “Blood was present all over. I was on the brink of death.”

Heidi Ernst
The shark clamped down on the diver’s left calf, causing severe damage requiring an amputation.
KCCI
Heidi Ernst
Heidi Ernst, 73, was attacked by a shark during a diving excursion in the Bahamas on June 7.
Heidi Ernst/Facebook

As per a GoFundMe page, a team member provided initial medical assistance to the severely wounded lady by fastening a compression bandage around her leg that “prevented her from hemorrhaging fatally.”

In Miami, Ernst was conveyed by an air medical transport to Jackson Ryder Trauma Center after being transferred to Rand Memorial Hospital, where physicians were compelled to perform a leg amputation due to the severity of the injury and the substantial susceptibility to infection following stabilization.

“Expressed Ernst, a physical therapist with almost forty years of experience, ‘It was clear that there was no possibility of saving it.’ I collaborated with the surgeon to make the choice of amputating my leg.”

Ernst pictured during undated diving excursion
Ernst, a widow from Iowa, has been diving in the Bahamas for 11 years.
Grand Bahama Scuba
Shark photo from Heidi Ernst
Ernst said she has encountered sharks many times and has never feared them.
Heidi Ernst/Facebook

“So I exclaimed, ‘Yes, let’s simply go for it. Let’s just remove it,'” she included.

Ernst declared that she has been engaging in diving for 11 years along the coast of Grand Bahama island and has never experienced any fear of sharks.

“I have never experienced any sense of peril,” Ernst informed The Gazette. “They do not pose a threat to us. We capture images of them. They glide around us. They have not displayed any hostile conduct towards scuba divers.”

Ernst’s Facebook profile is filled with pictures capturing her underwater escapades, including several encounters with enormous sharks.

Ernst, third from the right, had just completed her 500th dive in May.
Ernst (third from the right) had just completed her 500th dive in May.
Heidi Ernst/Facebook
Undated photo of Heidi Ernst before the shark attack
Ernst — pictured before the shark attack — will require physical therapy and will be fitted for a prothesis.
Heidi Ernst/Facebook

“Ernst said she does not blame that shark, which she referred to as her ‘biggest passion,’ for her lack of plans.”

“I don’t believe this will hinder my progress,” she stated.

The woman, who is a recent widow, has now had six surgeries, with the latest one on Thursday to close her amputation location.

In the future, after receiving a prosthesis and participating in physical therapy, she will carry on with her rehabilitation in Marshalltown, Iowa, prior to going back to the Miami hospital by the following week.

“I am capable of accomplishing this,” Ernst stated.