Woman dies in alligator 'attack' in South Carolina

An eighty eight year old woman died after allegedly attacked by an alligator in South Carolina's Sun City Hilton Head. The woman was identified as a resident of Sun City Hilton Head, a community for old age people. The woman was said to be gardening when the alligator attacked her.

Maj angela Viens, the Beaufort County sheriff’s spokeswoman, said that the authorities aren’t sure how the woman ended up at a three hundred-squared yard pond.

Viens reached the place of attack around 11:45 AM (local time) on Monday, after a person called 911 and informed police about the dead body. The person informed 911 that they saw an alligator holding a person in the water.


Viens saw the alligator holding the woman. The alligator was very large, and it was at the pond’s edge along with the woman. The alligator had taken the woman hostage and was guarding her, and did not clearly want people to come near, Viens said.

After couple of hours, the woman's body was retrieved from the pond. South Carolina Department of Natural Resources authorities reached the scene, and the alligator was captured by them.

What happened to the alligator is not clear as the authorities declined to speak on the incident. This is the fourth attack in the country this year. As per rumours, the old woman slipped into the pool while gardening and was immediately attacked by the alligator. The pool in which the woman was attacked is surrounded by many houses.

According to Viens, in South Carolina, alligator attacks are not surprising. However, most of the attacks are not fatal, unlike this one. In the last couple of years, the number of alligator attacks has increased.

Sun City is the largest alive adult community which is located at the heart of the South Carolina low country.

When did the previous alligator attack happen in Sun City?
In 2019, Deborah Cook was attacked by an alligator, and she survived it.

At the station, she told the authorities that while she was strolling with her pet dog, when the alligator attacked her limb and captured her hand in its mouth.

Deborah believed that she lost her hand. She was very angry because she never had imagined dying like that.

Deborah started punching the alligator in his eyes, and to her good luck, the animal turned around and left.