Key Largo, Florida: Shark attack leaves eight-year-old boy fighting for life after massive blood loss
An eight-year-old boy is fighting for life after having two tourniquets wrapped above a massive bite wound, following a shark attack at a tourist hotspot.
The youngster was snorkelling with his father at Horsheshoe Reef in Key Largo, Florida on Monday afternoon (local time), when the monster shark latched onto his leg and thrashed him about in the water.
Rescuers aboard a diving boat working close by advised emergency services that the boy had suffered significant blood loss, and an air rescue helicopter was engaged to transport him to a local hospital.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.“So, we have an eight-year-old, significant amount of blood loss,” dispatch audio obtained by Fox affiliate WSVN revealed.
Paramedics applied two tourniquets on the child’s thigh above the wound to try and control the bleeding, according to dispatcher reports.
Once stabilised, the rescue helicopter transported him to the Jackson Memorial Hospital Ryder Trauma Centre in Miami.
The boy was described as being in severe condition on Monday, and it is unclear what his condition is following surgery.
Monroe County Sheriff Rick Ramsay said the boy “underwent surgery on Monday evening” and that they had notified both the US Coast Guard and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission of the attack.
The Key Largo area has seen multiple shark attacks during the American summer including a horror incident in August after a man’s foot was bitten by a shark.
Chance Armand was spearfishing near Pensacola Pass when the predator latched onto his lower leg.
“By the time I acknowledged he wasn’t gonna turn around, it was too late,” Chance said after the attack.
“I didn’t really have time to, you know, react otherwise besides put my knee between myself and the shark.”
After biting his knee, the shark swam down deeper into the ocean, and Chance rushed to the surface to call his friends for help.
A seven-year-old boy’s leg was also torn apart after reports that a 13-foot shark was the culprit for another attack in early August.
