Tourist dies after losing her leg in shark attack while sailing off Canary Islands

A German tourist died after being bitten by a shark on Monday while sailing off Spain's Canary Islands, the coastguard said.

The 30-year-old woman lost a leg in the attack and died of a heart attack later while being transported in a Spanish rescue helicopter, a coastguard spokesman told AFP.

She was sailing in a British catamaran in the Atlantic some 278 nautical miles southwest of the island of Gran Canaria when the shark struck. She was attacked while swimming beside the catamaran, Reuters reported.