Alabama teen on her first mother-daughter beach trip loses her hand and leg in rare double shark attack in Florida as her devastated mom reveals the horror moment she found her ‘lifeless’ in the water

The teenage victims of a shark attack in the Florida Panhandle have been identified as Lulu Gribbin, who lost a hand and a leg, and McCray Faust, who suffered injuries to her foot.

Ann Blair Gribbin, Lulu’s mother, told how her first mother-daughter beach trip quickly turned to horror when she shared an update with friends and family online.

On Friday, the Gribbin family visited Seacrest Beach with several friends. After returning from lunch, Ann Blair came back to the beach and discovered that there was a shark in the water.

A crowd formed around the ocean’s edge, having been evacuated by Walton County authorities and lifeguards. At that moment, Lulu’s twin sister Ellie came to her and told her that Lulu had been attacked.

‘I saw her wounds on her leg and started screaming. She was lifeless, her eyes closed and her mouth white and pale. The wound on her leg or whatever was left of her leg was something out of a movie,” Gribbin said.

Lulu Gribbin was among the teenage girls attacked by a shark on Friday. The bites were so severe that surgeons had to amputate her “right leg halfway from her knee to her hip,” according to a Facebook post written by her mother.

Pictured: Rescuers rush shark bite victims away from the beach and towards air transport to hospital

This brutal attack happened around 3 p.m., according to South Walton Fire District Fire Chief Ryan Crawford, who said both girls required tourniquets applied to their bite wounds.

Ann Blair managed to reach her daughter, who said she saw her approaching. Lulu’s eyes were still open, so the worried mother grabbed her hand.

Almost immediately, emergency responders loaded her up, carried her off the beach and took her to a helicopter.

Lulu was airlifted to Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola, where they had an hour and twenty minute drive.

“We prayed all the way,” Ann Blair wrote.

“We got to Sacred Heart and Lulu was already in surgery, but they answered my prayer that she was alive and that her vitals were good,” adding that the surgeons told her that the shark had bitten off Lulu’s left hand and that they had done so . to amputate her right leg halfway from her knee to her hip.”

While the first teenage victim was transported to a trauma center in Pensacola in critical condition, the other was taken by ambulance in stable condition.

After the attacks, Walton County closed several miles of Gulf of Mexico waters and began flying double red flags. Some beaches have now reopened

Ann Blair wrote that Lulu lost two-thirds of her blood in the attack, which is more than life-threatening. Experts say that if a human loses more than 40 percent of his blood and does not undergo immediate surgery, it will lead to death.

Lulu regained consciousness on Saturday and her first words were: ‘I made it.’

She was able to summarize the horrific attack in detail. Authorities had already revealed that the girls were swimming on a sandbar at Seacrest Beach, which Lulu confirmed to her mother.

The teen added that after she was bitten on the hand and then the leg, the shark bit her friend on the foot.

“Lulu said a man grabbed her other arm and pulled her out and another younger boy helped him carry her to shore,” Ann Blair wrote.

Ann Blair also revealed that two doctors and two young women, one of whom was a nurse, were the ones who applied tourniquets to Lulu’s wounds.

‘At this point we will have multiple surgeries over the next few days and our lives will be changed forever. Lulu is strong, beautiful, brave and there are so many more things I can’t count,” she wrote.

Just four miles away on the same day, a 45-year-old Virginia woman, Elisabeth Foley, was bitten by a shark around 1:15 p.m. She suffered significant injuries to her abdominal and pelvic area, requiring the lower part of one of her arms to be amputated. Fox10 TV reported.

Foley is now in stable condition, according to representatives from HCA Florida Fort Walton-Destin Hospital, where she was flown on Friday.

A fundraiser organized by her family has already raised more than $36,000 of its $50,000 goal

Elisabeth Foley, the first victim of a shark attack on the Florida panhandle, is pictured at left

The attacks took place within four miles of each other, officials said

A 45-year-old woman was bitten by the sea creature in the water near Watersound Way and Coopersmith Lane at around 1.15pm on Friday.

As recently as Sunday afternoon, South Walton Fire District lifeguards were still flying warning flags to warn beachgoers about “the presence of dangerous marine life.’

“We encourage all of our beachgoers to be situationally aware in the water today, swim near a lifeguard, stay hydrated and look out for each other. Please do not underestimate the open water and marine life that may be present,” the agency wrote on Facebook.

The day before, a beach marine from the sheriff’s office monitored the shoreline near where the attacks occurred.

Officers spotted a 15-foot hammerhead shark near Santa Rosa Beach on Saturday morning, which they said was not unusual, in a post on X.

A service for Lulu and McCray’s attacks was held Sunday at their hometown church in Alabama. AL.com reported.

Sheriff’s deputies are monitoring the waters near where Friday’s shark attacks occurred

The officers spotted a 4.5 meter long hammerhead shark in the water, which they said was not unusual

According to the report, St. Luke’s Episcopal Church was packed. People filled every pew and even more gathered in an overflow room to show their support for the teenage girls as church officials lit candles in their honor.

The church also said grief counselors would be made available to anyone in the congregation who felt they needed someone to talk to.

“This extended community stands with you,” the Rev. Richmond Webster told the families in attendance.

These attacks come weeks after officials named Florida as the shark bite capital of the world.

Daytona Beach in Volusia County, Florida, has had the highest concentration of unprovoked attacks worldwide, with 351 since 1837, according to the University of Florida report. International shark attack file.

Daytona Beach is about 400 miles from where this most recent double shark attack occurred.

Nationally, the US had the most shark attacks in 2023, totaling 1,640, followed by Australia with 706.