Newlywed who lost a leg in Maldives honeymoon shark attack speaks about ‘savage episode’ and jokes about the ‘strong start’ to his marriage
A man attacked by a shark in the Maldives during his honeymoon has spoken for the first time about losing his leg and joked that the ordeal was a ‘strong start’ to married life.
Spaniard Borja Garcia Sousa, 31, described the incident, which nearly cost him his life and led to the amputation of his leg, as ‘the most cruel and savage episode’ the couple had ever experienced.
In an emotional social media post, he said he was longing to return home and ‘hug and kiss’ his loved ones.
And in a tribute to the woman he married just before they left for the Indian Ocean paradise on April 11, Borja said on Instagram: ‘If there’s one thing I’m sure of after all this, it’s that there was no better person to go through that storm with.’
The Spanish tourist, a semi-professional futsal player who works at a hospital in Alicante, was airlifted to the hospital following the shark attack in front of his wife, Ana.
They are understood to have been part of a group that entered the water near a fishing processing plant off an island called Kooddoo, which is home to a four-star boutique hotel resort.
He had to have his leg amputated after being admitted to an intensive care unit at ADK Hospital in Male, the densely populated capital of the Maldives.
Police in the Maldives confirmed they had launched an investigation after Borja’s wife lodged a formal complaint accusing the organisers of the marine excursion of negligence.
The injured holidaymaker chose yesterday, a month after he married his long-term partner, to speak his first words since the horror incident and post the first photo of himself since the horror incident, which made headlines around the world.
In an emotional message alongside snaps of their wedding and one of him recovering in hospital alongside Ana, Borja said: ‘Who would have told us that life would put us to the test so soon, barely a month after we said those words before God and before the most important people in our lives.
‘On April 28, we celebrated our first month of marriage. And what can I say to you… we started strong, didn’t we?
‘On April 11, we faced probably the cruellest and most savage episode of our lives. But not for a single moment did we stop trusting that it would just be a stone in the road; that, no matter what happened, we would find a way to move forward. And we did.
‘Because there are moments that change you forever. Moments in which you understand how fragile life is, but also the strength one can draw when everything seems to be falling apart.
‘If there’s one thing I’m sure of after all this, it’s that there was no better person to go through that storm with.
