British holidaymaker injured in shark attack during morning paddle
The sisters holiday together each year and had arrived at the Hilton Rose hotel on May 5, intending to stay for two weeks.
Ms Smith, who is a pharmacologist, was taken to hospital in an ambulance and medics said she needed plastic surgery.
But with no surgeon available for two weeks, the sisters cut their holiday short and flew to Cork, Ireland, where their parents live.
Doctors confirmed the tendons and nerves in Rachel's ring and little fingers were ruptured, and the ligaments in her ring finger had been disconnected.
'I thought I was going to die'
She had emergency surgery and hopes to regain full movement in 18 months time.
Rachel, from Newham, London said: 'There was so much blood coming out I honestly thought I was going to die.
'I was in complete shock. My whole hand went numb so I thought my whole hand had been taken off.
'I feel grateful to be alive and so grateful to have my hand.
'I have a long road of recovery ahead but I have a positive attitude and I believe I will get through it.'
'There was blood everywhere'
Lisa, a procurement specialist, added that they have suffered with nightmares since the attack.
She said: 'We were so terrified. I honestly thought her fingers were gone - there was blood everywhere.
'At one point a vein burst and sprayed blood all over both of us. We were just crying and thinking she was going to die.'
The sisters say a flag on the beach was raised indicating it was safe to swim and doctors confirmed the bite was likely to belong to a reef shark.
Rachel said: 'I really did think I would die. The private hospital were only concerned with getting the payment before stopping the bleeding.'
Lisa said Rachel was bitten inside an area cordoned off as safe to swim inside, near the beach, by a rope.
'There were two young kids swimming by the rope, it's lucky it wasn't them,' she added.
'I'm just so glad and grateful that she's alive.'
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