Dad fights off shark that latched onto his son’s leg in the Outer Banks, report says
A teen was injured in a possible shark attack off the Outer Banks on Thursday, officials say.
The 16-year-old boy was “was jumping over waves on a sandbar” when it happened at about 4 p.m., Cape Hatteras National Seashore said in a news release. He was in the ocean roughly 2 miles south of Salvo, which is in Dare County, the release said.
Tim Arthur, the teenager’s father, said he was also in the water when “he heard his son scream and saw him fighting the shark,” WGHP reported. That’s when Arthur swam over and kicked the shark, which eventually released the boy’s thigh from its grip, according to the TV station.
The boy, who lives in Oak Ridge, sustained a non-life-threatening injury, likely from a shark bite, according to officials.
He was treated at a medical center in Nags Head and was released from the facility on Thursday night, the park service says.
In 2019, North Carolina had at least three shark attacks, which tied for the third-most of any state in the country, according to data from the International Shark Attack File at the University of Florida.
People who were bitten included a 17-year-old at Fort Macon Park, a 19-year-old in Ocean Isle and an 8-year-old near Bald Head Island, The News & Observer reported.
Last year, Safe Wise ranked North Carolina the No. 5 state in the country for shark attacks, with 32 reported since 2010. Data was collected from reports to the Global Shark Attack file.
This story was originally published June 19, 2020 at 5:56 AM with the headline "Dad fights off shark that latched onto his son’s leg in the Outer Banks, report says."
