BRASïLIA, Federal District (Brazil) (AFP) - A young tourist died after being attacked by a shark as she swam off a beach in north-eastern Brazil, a hospital official said on Tuesday.

Ms Bruna Gobbi, an 18-year-old resident of Sao Paulo, was rushed to the Restauracao hospital in Recife after Monday's attack.

"She lost a lot of blood" and died of her injuries after her leg was amputated, said a hospital official who asked not to be named.

"We knew there were risks of a shark attack but I thought this would occur in a deeper sector," the victim's cousin, Ms Daniele Souza, told Globo television.

A total of 58 shark attacks, 28 of them fatal, have been reported over the past 21 years in Recife, one the most popular seaside resorts in the north-eastern state of Pernambuco, according to a state agency that has been tracking shark attacks since 1922.