The victim had been travelling with several other children on a family holiday, accompanied by her grandparents. The horrific incident occurred in the north of Brazil, in Monte Alegre.
Local media reports that the girl, named as Adrila Muniz, fell out of her canoe and into the river in the middle of a fierce thunderstorm. The girl’s grandmother pulled the other children to safety but was unable to rescue Adrila. She said “I tried to hold onto her, but with all the other children around she slipped out of my grasp.”
Piranhas in the water, later seen circling nearby, tore the flesh from her legs as she was pulled from the water. She died at the scene soon afterwards.
A pool of blood remained in the water, which the piranha group lingered close to as Adrila was rescued from their midst. Brazilian news is showing some extremely graphic images of the girl with completely exposed bones from the hips down, illustrating how vicious piranhas are to their prey.
The deadly fish are around 14-26cm long ordinarily although some have been reported as being as long as 43cm. Known as ferocious predators and feared by many, they hunt collectively in groups.
The incident on the Maicuru river shows how deadly a piranha attack can be. Such events are actually very rare with piranhas typically staying away from humans.
Other recent attacks include the death of a five year old, also in Brazil, and the Christmas Day 2013 attack in Argentina where 70 bathers were injured when a shoal of the piranhas attacked.
