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Jordan’s father, Michael Lindsey,opened up about the tragedyin an interview withGood Morning Americaon Wednesday. He said that Jordan was with her mother, Kami, on a last-minute excursion to Rose Island with the Sandy Toes Tour Company.
“Kami … had the worst, like, 10 times worst thing. She has her daughter die in her arms on a trip,” Michael said. “I mean, we cry every night still … when [Kami] closes her eyes, she’s back in that water again. She’s seen all the blood. She [has] seen her poor daughter die in her arms.”
The group was in a part of the water famous for snorkeling and swimming with pigs, and Michael and Jordan’s other relatives were in another part of the water, he said. Kami was just a few feet away from Jordan when a group of sharks pounced.
“Kami said she heard Jordan yell like, ‘Mom.’ She thought dolphins were around Jordan. Then she realized, like, right away that, like, Jordan was screaming,” Michael continued, noting that Kami quickly swam to Jordan and tried to pull her to safety but another shark attacked.
“Jordan said, ‘Mom, there’s another shark coming!’ And then the second shark hit her,” he told the outlet. “The second shark hit again, like, on her lower leg. And then that’s the last thing … Jordan said.”
The sharks tore off her right arm and she suffered bites to her left arms, both legs and her buttocks, police said, according toABC News. She was taken to a local hospital where she was pronounced dead.
“I walked in and they said, ‘Your daughter’s gone,’ ” he toldGMA.
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In a previous statement to PEOPLE, the family criticized the tour company for not doing more to help in the situation.
The family said that no staff members or guides entered the water with Jordan and Kami that day, and the pair was fairly far from other snorkelers. The family added that no Sandy Toes employees entered the water when Jordan was attacked.
“No one jumped in,” the statement read. “Shockingly, no staff mobilized to assist in any way. As [Kami] swam to Jordan and told Jordan to try to swim toward her, she thought certainly a boat would come to whisk them out of the water and harm’s way, but that did not happen.”
In a statement to PEOPLE, Sandy Toes said it would “again like to extend our deepest and sincerest condolences to the family and friends of Jordan Lindsey who recently passed away as a result of a shark attack in waters near Rose Island in The Bahamas.”
VIDEO: Shark Expert Jamin Martinelli Says Sharks Read Body Language: ‘Just Remain Calm’
Jordan’s family has called for tour groups to implement safety precautions, including appointing a guard to look specifically for sharks, establishing an emergency plan for shark attacks and having proper medical supplies on all tours.
Michael toldGMAthat he will always remember Jordan as his “little guardian angel.”
“She took care of me,” he said. “I just … I remember kissing her on the forehead, and that’s the last time I seen her. I just kissed her on the forehead and said, ‘I’ll see you later, Jordan.’ ”
Jordan was in her third year at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, the university’s president, Timothy Law Snyder, said in a statement.
source: people.com
