BEIJING, May 15 (Xinhuanet)-- Florida has witnessed a wave of alligator attacks in less than a week, as the bodies of two women were found in northern Florida on Sunday, a few days after a woman in Fort Lauderdale died in a similar attack.

    In the latest incident, a 23-year-old woman appears to have been attacked while snorkeling at a lakeside recreation area, about 50 miles southeast of Gainesville.

    "The people she was staying with came around and found her inside the gator's mouth," said Joe Amigliore, captain of the Marion County Fire-Rescue. "They jumped into the water and somehow pulled her out of the gator's mouth."

    In Pinellas County, the death of another woman whose body was found early Monday in a canal 30 km north of St. Petersburg, was also blamed on an alligator, authorities said.

    Judy Cooper, 43, of Dunedin, suffered animal bites that were consistent with an alligator, which "did play some part in the victim's death," according to a preliminary autopsy.

    On Wednesday, construction workers found the dismembered body of a Florida Atlantic University student in a canal near Fort Lauderdale. Authorities captured a 2.7-metre alligator Saturday and found two human arms inside its stomach.

    A medical examiner concluded that the 28-year-old woman, Yovy Suarez Jimenez, was attacked near the canal bank and dragged into the water.

    What caused the attacks in three separate Florida counties was unknown, but state wildlife officials said alligators are generally on the move looking for mates and food this time of year.

    "As the weather heats up, the alligators' metabolism increases and they have to eat more," Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission spokesman Willie Puz said.  Enditem

    (Agencies)