A 17-year-old boy was bitten by a shark while boating off the coast of Texas earlier this week, authorities said.
Coast Guard officials said Sector Houston-Galveston watchstanders were notified by the Galveston County Sheriff’s Office that a boat carrying three people, including the injured teen, had been en route to the Galveston Yacht Basin. The vessel later became disabled near the Galveston South Jetties, a rock breakwater structure near the eastern end of Galveston Island at the entrance to the Galveston Bay.
Watchstanders dispatched a Response Boat-Medium crew to the scene and Coast Guard responders took the injured boy and his father aboard their vessel. The teen was then transferred to emergency medical services personnel who were waiting at Coast Guard Base Galveston.
The agency added that the boy's father did apply a tourniquet, and first responders put a second one on before transferring him to the Coast Guard vessel. He was subsequently taken to a local hospital for treatment after arriving ashore.
NTD reached out to the Coast Guard, the Galveston County Sheriff’s Office, and Galveston Island Beach Patrol for additional information, but responses were not received by publication time.
Still, tourism officials do recommend taking basic safety precautions in order to help minimize the risk of shark attacks, including avoiding swimming near schools of fish, people who are fishing, or during dawn, dusk, and nighttime hours, when sharks tend to be more active. Swimmers should also not enter the water if they are actively bleeding and should avoid all contact with sharks.