Alligator near Florida lake attacks and kills woman in small boat, authorities say

An alligator attacked and killed a woman in a small boat in the water near a popular Florida lake Tuesday, authorities said.

The woman was in the boat in the mouth of Tiger Creek where it meets Lake Kissimmee, roughly 70 miles south of Orlando, when she was attacked just after 4 p.m., the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said.

The woman went into the water and wasn’t seen again until her body was recovered nearby, the commission said in a statement.

The response included Fish and Wildlife Conservation officers and Polk County sheriff’s deputies, the commission said.

The sheriff’s office said in a separate statement that the woman was in a kayak, distinguished by an enclosed hull, with another person who wasn’t reported injured. But a commission spokesperson said the agency believes it was a canoe — also a paddle-powered vessel, but one with an open hull.

An alligator trapper was dispatched to the scene, the commission said. There were no immediate reports that the animal involved in the attack had been found.

The attack was under investigation, the commission said.

The woman’s identity was unavailable, and the Polk County medical examiner’s office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday night.