A TOURIST was dragged into a boat propeller and killed after jumping into the sea to retrieve her flip-flops.
Witnesses screamed in horror as Natalia Andrea Larranaga Fajardo, 26, was struck by the vessel in Colombia.
She started to bleed heavily after suffering devastating injuries to her legs and lower back in waters off White Wata Beach on the island of San Andres.
Natalia, from Cali, had jumped into the water to get her flip-flops on November 27 when she was sucked into the propeller, according to reports.
She was rushed by jet ski to a hospital on the island, where she underwent multiple blood transfusions and surgery to repair her arteries.
Medics also had to resuscitate her after she suffered a cardiac arrest.
After the operation, she was admitted to the ICU but she suffered another cardiac arrest – this time fatal – in the early hours of the following morning.
It is understood the boat involved in the incident was carrying 24 tourists and two crew members.
Dimar – Colombia's maritime authority – said in a statement: "The vessel has been immobilised and its two crew members have been placed at the disposal of the relevant authorities by the Coast Guard of the Colombian Navy as part of the due process of investigation."
Officials in San Andres reminded swimmers to keep clear of moving boats and to notify crew if entering the water.
It comes after the son of a Spanish-Venezuelan billionaire banker was killed by a boat propeller after jumping overboard.
Juan Carlos Escotet Alviarez, 31, died while trying to save his fiancée, who had fallen from a 60-foot vessel about six miles off Key Largo, Florida.
He was the youngest son of Banesco founder Juan Carlos Escotet Rodriguez, who is worth $3.5billion, per Forbes.
The tragedy happened as Escotet Alviarez and fiancée Andrea Montero, 30, were competing as anglers in a tournament organized by Ocean Reef Club in March.
Escotet Alviarez was hit by the propeller just as he entered the water and died from his injuries, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said.
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