Boy, 14, coaching to be lifeguard unintentionally jumped on shark – then discovered
A boy training to be lifeguard accidentally jumped on a shark during a practice session.
The 14-year-old was perfecting his water entries while participating in the Junior Lifeguard Camp at Ponce Inlet, Florida, on July 8, when he dove into the water and on to the shark.
The startled shark bit the shocked boy on his right calf, however the teenager luckily escaped without life-threatening injuries.
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Witnesses believe the shark was a Black Tip around four or five feet in length, reports Fox News.
(Image: Getty Images)
The incident was the third attack within five days in Volusia County.
The pocket of Florida has recorded 351 unprovoked shark attacks since records began — which is significantly higher than anywhere else in Florida, and indeed the US, according to data collected by Florida Museum.
Florida earned the grim accolade of having the most shark attacks in the world in 2023, with sharks snacking on 16 humans in the year — that’s 44% of total shark attacks in the US and 23% of the world’s unprovoked attacks for for the same year, reports Fox Weather.
Terrifyingly, while it appears there’s an increase of shark attacks in the area, there’s not.
Shark expert Stephen Kajiura, a professor of biological sciences at Florida Atlantic University told FL Keys News that 2024 is so far on par with any other year for shark attacks.
He said: “Don’t let fear of sharks prevent you from having a good time. The chances of you being bitten are so tiny, so minuscule.”
“If they wanted to eat us there’d be carnage out there. But, we are not part of their menu.”
While there is no offical tally of shark attacks for 2024 yet, the paper reports a shark attack tracking website reckons there have been 39 attacks this year, world-wide, to date.
(Image: NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Gavin Naylor, director of the Florida Program for Shark Research, agreed with Kajiura, saying attack numbers are normal for the year.
He said: “I tell people if sharks targeted people we would have 10,000 bites a day.”
The academic’s advice comes as doctors battle against time to reattach the leg of a surfer that was bitten off in a terrifying shark attack in Australia.
Kai McKenzie was catching some waves at North Shore Beach in Port Macquarie in New South Wales, when he was mauled by a massive 3-metre great white.
Fighting the predator off, the 23-year-old managed to catch a wave to shore on his damaged board while his leg bled out. An off-duty cop fashioned a tourniquet out of his dog’s lead to stem the bleeding.
Shortly after, his severed leg washed ashore and both Kai and his leg were airlifted to a major trauma hospital with the hop doctors could put the leg back on.
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