Florida woman's hand bitten nearly off by alligator, TV reports

A woman visiting the Florida Everglades was attacked on Friday by an alligator that bit her hand nearly off, local media reported.

Kimberly Ann Sexton, 49, was reaching into the water in northwestern Broward County to retrieve a can she had dropped when the alligator, described as four to five feet long, attacked, according to WSVN-TV, a local station.

"She sustained a severe hand injury that was almost a full amputation of the right hand in the wrist," Broward Sheriff and Fire Rescue spokesman Mike Jachles told the station for a story on its website.

Jachles said people accompanying Jachles grabbed her to prevent her from falling into the water, which "could have very well saved her life," the station reported.

Sexton was airlifted to a local hospital, where doctors were attempting to re-attach her hand, WSVN reported. The alligator that bit her has been trapped, the station said.

In June, a two-year-old boy drowned after being dragged into the water at the Wal Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida

(Reporting by Dan Whitcomb, editing by Larry King)