A 31-year-old woman was killed by an alligator while swimming in a river in Florida, according to authorities.
On Tuesday, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission named the victim as Brittany Clark of Orlando.
Clark, her boyfriend, and her best friend were hiking on Sunday when they stopped to swim in the Econlockhatchee River near the Barr Street Trailhead in Seminole County, just north of Orlando, according to the Florida Wildlife Conservation Commission.
According to FWC spokesperson Chad Weber, Clark was bit on both arms by an alligator while in around 3 feet of water. The boyfriend made the [911] phone call. “He was trying to get her out of the alligator’s mouth,” Weber explained at a news conference on Monday.
Weber said the woman died on her way to the hospital.
According to officials, two alligators in the area—one 13 feet long located at the scene of the event and the other 12 1/2 feet long found half a mile away—have been seized and killed. The FWC stated that 13 feet is considered a very large alligator.
The FWC said Tuesday that samples from both alligators had been obtained, and the inquiry was still ongoing.
Maj. Jay Russell with the FWC described the situation as “incredibly tragic.”
This attack occurred two days after a 28-year-old man was killed by a crocodile on a popular beach in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.
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