A 13-year-old girl is recovering after a barracuda bit her hand during a birthday celebration in Turks and Caicos, an incident she described as feeling like a "horror movie." Claire Macdonel was performing a handstand in waist-deep water approximately one week after her 13th birthday when the attack occurred.
"I did the handstand, like four or five feet deep, and when I did it, midway, I just felt a lot of pressure," Macdonel told KHOU11. "I just looked up from my hand, and I just saw blood everywhere. It was running through my whole arm, and it was just like a horror movie."
Her mother, Jen Macdonel, was present and helped Claire to shore. A stranger, who identified herself as a nurse, then created a tourniquet to help stem the bleeding while they waited for an ambulance. The girl sustained multiple lacerations and puncture wounds to her hand from the barracuda's teeth.
Doctors treated the wound and applied a loose suture, allowing Claire to continue her vacation. She is scheduled for surgery to repair the damage. Despite the traumatic experience, Macdonel stated it has not deterred her ambition to become a marine biologist. She believes the jewelry she was wearing may have attracted the fish, mistaking it for prey. She has since named the barracuda "Suzie" and expressed that she is not angry at the ocean, though a little upset with the individual fish, but plans to move past the incident.
"Just because one bite happened, it doesn’t change that I love animals and want to study them," she said. "Even though something bad happened, you’ve got to keep going with your dreams."