An American tourist was severely injured in a shark attack that occurred in Turks and Caicos on Wednesday, said authorities from the British Overseas Territory southeast of the Bahamas.

The 22-year-old woman from Connecticut was reportedly snorkelling near an exclusive resort in Providenciales, in the northwest Caicos Islands, at around 3 p.m. when the shark attacked her, Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Department said, according to ABC News.

A resort employee called for an ambulance, telling police that the woman’s leg had been bitten off by the shark.

Police and an ambulance attended to the woman, police said.

The victim was taken to a nearby hospital where she remains in critical condition, they added.

It was not clear how the victim was able to fight off the shark and swim back to shore, the New York Post reported. There had only been three reported shark attacks on humans in Turks and Caicos before Wednesday’s occurrence.

(Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shavuot in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)