An alligator attacked and killed a woman in a small boat in the water near a popular Florida lake on Tuesday, authorities said.
The woman was in the vessel in the mouth of Tiger Creek where it meets Lake Kissimmee, roughly 70 miles south of Orlando, when she was attacked just after 4 p.m., the the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said.
The woman went into the water and wasn’t seen again until her body was recovered nearby, the commission said in a statement.
The response included Fish and Wildlife Conservation officers and deputies from the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, the commission said.
The sheriff’s office said in its own statement that the woman was in a kayak, distinguished by an enclosed hull, with one other person who was not reported injured. But a commission spokesperson said the agency believes it was a canoe — also a paddle-powered vessel, but one with an open hull.
An alligator trapper was dispatched to the scene, the commission said. There were no immediate reports of the animal involved in the attack being found.
The attack was under investigation, the commission said.
The woman’s identity was unavailable, and the office of the Polk County Medical Examiner did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday night.
