Official: Alligator attacks, severely injures Florida woman

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Authorities say an alligator nearly took off a woman’s hand in an attack in the Everglades.

Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue spokesman Mike Jachles says the 49-year-old woman dropped a can from a dock and was bitten by a 4- to 5-foot gator as she reached down to the water to get it Friday.

Jachles says a fire rescue helicopter was dispatched just before 6:30 p.m. to a fish camp in the Everglades near Fort Lauderdale. The woman from Osceola County was staying there with family.

He says flight medics found her with a severe hand injury — “almost fully amputated” — and losing consciousness.

She was flown to Broward Health North Trauma Center, where she was in critical condition. Her name was not released Friday night.