10-Year-Old Boy Bitten by Shark in Bahamas Shark Expedition

Local police in the Bahamas reported that a shark had bitten a 10-year-old boy from Maryland on Monday. The shark bite came during a shark tank expedition while he visited a resort on Paradise Island. It bit him on his right leg. According to the Royal Bahamas Police Force, the victim is now listed in stable condition at a nearby hospital.

Investigations into the circumstances surrounding the incident mention no facts about the shark type or which resort it was as well. Atlantis Paradise Island has hinted at the possibility that it offers shark experiences, but up to date, the resort has yet to respond to media contact.

That incident occurred following the death of a 44-year-old Massachusetts woman who was fatally bitten by a shark while paddleboarding in the Bahamas a couple of weeks prior. In addition, last December, a 39-year-old man died after a shark attacked him as he surfed off Maui’s northern shore.

Gavin Naylor, program director of the International Shark Attack File, noted that though in the past five years there have been a few fatalities associated with sharks in the Bahamas, the risk is greater because of the large numbers of tourists and the considerable time that people are present in the water involved in activities associated with sharks.

The Caribbean reef shark, bull shark, tiger shark, and blacktip shark were observed to be giving the maximum bites with the highest frequency, and this category of shark species prevails in The Bahamas’ waters. Thus, Naylor stated that, given the broad nose-initiated bite radii of large sharks like the bull shark and the tiger shark, many incidents of shark bites seemed to be accidental, with the sharks mistaking the human for other prey at times.

According to TrackingSharks.com, the total reported number of shark bites in 2023 was 83, with 15 deaths. The number of bites in the United States is 41, consisting of two deaths.