A 23-year-old man from Florida lost an arm after being attacked by an alligator near Fort Myers on Sunday morning. He was attacked at a pond behind Banditos Bar in Port Charlotte, a spokesperson for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said in a statement to CBS News. The name of the man has not been released.
Authorities with the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office and EMS responded to the incident alongside the state wildlife agency, after receiving a report that a man had been bitten by an alligator, the media outlet reported.
The wildlife officials later confirmed that the alligator which measured 10 1/2 feet long was later killed.
The injured man was taken to a hospital by helicopter where he underwent surgery to amputate his arm.
A witness named Manny Hidalgo said that he heard screaming outside and left the bar with a flashlight to see what was going on, according to The Daily Sun, a newspaper based in Port Charlotte. The victim was in the water when Hidalgo found him, he recalled.
"He was yelling and swimming toward the shoreline," Hidalgo told The Daily Sun in an interview Sunday afternoon. "I ran and dragged him up onto the sand. I was scared to get close to the water because it was dark out."
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is investigating the incident.
