A 73-year-old woman from Maryland on a fishing trip in Florida’s Atlantic Coast was hospitalized after a 100-pound sailfish stabbed her in the groin.
The woman, Katherine Perkins, was on a fishing trip a couple of miles offshore from Stuart, Florida, with two companions last week. One of the anglers caught the large sailfish on his fishing line. As they attempted to reel in the fish, it charged at the boat, as reported by NBC News.
The sailfish then jumped out of the water and stabbed Perkins in the groin area. She later told responding officers from the Martin County Sheriff’s Office that it all happened so fast that she didn’t have any time to react.
The woman was airlifted to the HCA Florida Lawnwood Hospital in Fort Pierce for treatment.
Per National Geographic, sailfish can grow up to 11 feet long, can weigh up to 220 pounds, and can swim up to 68 miles per hour.
Incidentally, Stuart calls itself the “sailfish capital of the world” (hat tip to the Washington Post for that tidbit) and even boasts a 19-foot sailfish statue downtown.
This article appears in It’s Been Five Years.