Brit badly injured by dive-boat in Mexico
A British woman has suffered horrific injuries after being sliced by the propeller of a dive boat while snorkelling in Mexico on holiday with her husband.
Amor Armitage, 37, has posted details of her accident on her website, in a bid to raise awareness of the dangers of boat propellers.
On December 17 2022, Armitage says she was snorkelling and free diving off Cozumel with her husband Chase — who works as a film stuntman — and some new friends the couple had made.
Amor Armitage aboard a boat before the accident. Photo courtesy of Facebook/Amor Armitage
Armitage, who works as a yoga instructor in Basingstoke, says she chose to return to the boat and was preparing to climb the ladder when the captain turned on the engine, activating the propeller.
“When I hold onto the ladder, I take out one fin, the captain of the boat doesn’t see me, I suddenly realise the boat has started moving, and I’m unable to say anything, words just didn’t come out as fear freezed [sic] me,” Armitage writes.
Armitage recalls that the captain told her she needed to “go up the ladder,” but she “looked down [to] see my insides out.”
She says that her inner thigh is “completely scrambled” and her quads, tendons and tibial bone were “sliced.”
Armitage managed to get back onto the boat, where a blood clot formed in her femoral artery — preventing her from losing too much blood en route to the hospital.
Somehow, the propellor did not reach any of Amitage’s internal organs. Doctors also reveals that she has an unusual, extra blood vessel in her leg that helped to circulate blood around the whole leg and foot, avoiding the need for an amputation.
Amor Armitage in hospital with her doctors
Since the terrifying accident, Armitage has received 10 blood transfusions and undergone three major surgical procedures.
In the post, dated December 29, she adds that she is still taking antibiotics and painkillers and has “cried lots and smiled too.”
She writes: “I am at peace; I accept what happened fully and know that the universe has a divine plan for me through this.”
The yoga teacher says that she aims to return to the UK during January, but that the “road to recovery will be slow” and the “hospital bills are huge.” Armitage and her husband did not have insurance during their Mexican trip.
A fundraiser has been launched to help cover Armitage’s hospital bills. The Just Giving page has so far raised over £100,000, surpassing the original target, including one donation of £44,400.
It’s the second horrific propeller accident in the Americas in recent weeks. In November, MIN reported that a young Colombian woman was fatally struck by a boat propeller after jumping behind a boat to retrieve her flip-flops.
Local news reports say that Natalia Andrea Larrañaga Fajardo had spotted some friends on a boat, and had climbed aboard to greet them. She had jumped off the boat and into the water to retrieve her missing flip-flops when she was struck by the propeller.
