Brunswick County has confirmed that a shark attacked an 8-year-old boy off the beach of Bald Head Island, North Carolina, on Sunday, May 16.
Village Manager Chris McCall received a phone call at about 4 p.m. about a boy, whose name has not been released, that was bitten on his foot.
“A young boy was bitten by something to be a shark given the type of wounds sustained and assessment made by first-responders,” McCall said, reported WECT.
Village Public Safety Officers rendered first aid, and the boy was later transferred to the hospital, where he was treated for multiple puncture wounds. However, an emergency medevac was not necessary, as the boy is expected to make a complete recovery.
This is the third shark attack on people this month off the coast in North Carolina so far.
19-Year-Old Surfer Attacked
Just five days earlier, on June 11, 19-year-old Austin Reed had a nasty encounter with a shark as he was surfing off Ocean Isle Beach at about 2 p.m.
He was severely bitten in his right foot and bled profusely when he came ashore. Luckily, first responders were there, and so was his mother, who happened to be an ER nurse, and they were able to control the “serious bleeding.”
“I asked for [my friend] to look at my foot cause I was kind of scared to look at it—like I was scared that maybe the shark took a toe off or something,” Reed told ABC News in an interview from the hospital. “It’s pretty bad. And I looked at it, and there was blood everywhere.”
After that, he was taken to a hospital in Wilmington, where he underwent surgery and doctors said that over time, he would be fine.
17-year old girl loses leg and fingers in shark attack
Paige Winter was swimming with her father at Fort Macon State Park when she went below the surface of the water, said Charlie Winter, her dad.
“I went straight to where the pink was, and I dove under, and I grabbed her,” he told CBS News last week. “When I pulled her up, a shark came up with her—it was a big shark, and I immediately started to hit it. I hit it with everything I could, and it let go.”
In the attack, she lost part of her left leg and several fingers, but was ultimately positive about the outcome.
“I am still going to do all of the stuff they can do—I am going to be able to walk, I am going to be able to write. I am still the same old Paige,” she said, according to Inside Edition. “When I was in that water, I was praying. I was like, ‘I am 17, I got so much to do.’”
And a few days after the attack and amputation, she said in a statement, “although I have extensive injuries, including an amputated leg and damage to my hands, I will be okay.”
“Thank you to the care team at Vidant Medical Center, who is continuing to provide excellent care. I know I have a long road to recovery, which includes additional surgeries. I will continue to stay positive and be thankful that it was not worse.”
According to the International Shark Attack File at the University of Florida in Gainesville, there were 32 unprovoked shark attacks in the United States in 2018, accounting for 48 percent of the total, worldwide.
Epoch Times reporter Jack Philips contributed to this report
