A tourist was reportedly mauled by a frenzied shark after she tried to “play with it”. The 26-year-old Chinese woman, who it is said was a social media influencer, was swimming with nurse sharks off the coast of the tropical paradise of the Maldives earlier this month. 

According to Chinese media, the woman was going through her menstrual cycle when she entered the water and was mauled by one of the predators when she tried to get close to get a photograph for her social media. Nurse sharks, which can grow to around 10 feet long, are relatively docile and not usually considered a threat to humans, however like all sharks they can still deliver a powerful bite with row-upon-row of razor sharp teeth.

In places like the Maldives, and the Bahamas in the Caribbean, nurse sharks have become a tourist attraction where they have become used to swimming with humans attracted by the chance of being given food. The woman who was attacked in the Maldives said she had been told it was safe to swim with sharks while on her period. 

According to Sin Chew Daily News, the woman suffered a bite to her wrist and in a video shared on social media the cuts and bruises could be seen around the wound. 

However, despite her injuries, the woman told local press: “Because I can make my own judgments. If the shark had bitten my blood vessel, or my major artery, or my bone, and if my joints couldn’t move, I would definitely be very panicked.”

But the woman added she was happy to stay in the water after she was bitten despite protests from her dive masters, she added: “If I really have to have my limb amputated, crying won’t help.”

According to the Florida Museum of Natural History, there is no “positive evidence that menstruation is a factor in shark bites”.

“Additionally, evidence suggests when swimming the water pressure will temporarily stop the flow of menstrual blood decreasing the chances any blood is released into the water.”

The news comes after we reported how a holidaymaker who savagely mauled to death by a shark was pictured for the first time as her boyfriend fights for his life. Livia Muhlheim, 25, and her 26-year-old boyfriend, Lukas Schindler, were taking an early morning swim in the waters off Kylies Beach at Crowdy Bay, Australia when they were attacked.