By Chris Boyette, CNN
(CNN) — An 8-year-old boy was flown to a Miami trauma center after a shark bit him in the ocean off the Florida Keys on Labor Day, authorities said.
The boy was snorkeling off the ocean side of Key Largo when the shark bite happened shortly before 3:30 p.m. Monday, the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post.
The boy was with his father and a sibling off a reef at the time, CNN affiliate WPLG reported, citing authorities.
The boy’s name and condition were not immediately released. But the child, who suffered bite wounds to the left leg, was taken to shore by a snorkeling and diving charter service’s vessel, and then airlifted to a Miami hospital “for specialized trauma treatment and advanced medical care,” the Key Largo Fire Department said in a release.
“A witness on scene, dad, said significant amount of blood loss,” an emergency responder can be heard saying on dispatch audio posted on the Broadcastify website. “The injury is significant. Patient is pale.”
The person on the charter service vessel who took the boy to medical personnel on shore – a roughly 20-minute journey – was a “good Samaritan,” the fire department said without elaborating.
“We commend their quick actions in helping to transport the victim to our emergency responders,” the department said.
The boy was taken to Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital, authorities said. CNN has contacted the hospital for an update on the boy’s condition.
The shark is believed to be a reef shark, and its length is unknown, the fire department said.
While Florida leads the US in unprovoked shark attacks, they are relatively uncommon in Monroe County, which had 21 recorded from 1882 to 2021 against more than 900 statewide in the same time frame, according to the Florida Museum of Natural History’s International Shark Attack File.
Last year, the US had 28 unprovoked shark attacks, 14 of which were in Florida, according to the group.
The-CNN-Wire
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