An 8-year-old boy bitten by a shark was airlifted to a Florida trauma center Monday.
The Labor Day attack happened shortly before 3:30 p.m. in Key Largo, off Horseshoe Reef, where the child was believed to have been snorkeling, according to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office.
The bite reportedly happened above one of the child’s knees and was considered severe.
A nearby dive vessel aided the victim in the wake of the attack, according to Miami station WSVN. Responding rescue workers reportedly applied two tourniquets and used bandages to slow the bleeding before the boy was airlifted to Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami.
The condition of the child was not clear on Tuesday. Police referred questions about the victim to the hospital, which hasn’t responded to a request for comment.
Police said the the U.S. Coast Guard and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission were aware of the incident. The sheriff’s office told the Daily News it had no information about the shark species involved.
Nautical site Keys Shark Diving said a wide variety of sharks visit the Florida Keys including tiger sharks, bull sharks and reef sharks, which can reportedly become aggressive under certain circumstances.
