In a horrifying shark attack, a 7-year-old boy sadly lost part of his leg. He had been swimming in the water with other children when he was attacked by the creature.
The shark attack happened at Taiohae Bay in Nuku Hiva, an island in French Polynesia, on Friday, July 25. According to Macau Business, the boy had been in the water with 10 other children. The shark first bit him on his right forearm and left hand. It then bit into one of his legs, biting him on his exposed calf.
Despite being rushed to the hospital, the boy lost part of his leg following the attack. A firefighter says the scene was horrific.
"I'm 35 years old, and this is the first time I've seen this. These were long and deep wounds," he said.
The firefighter blamed local fishermen for the shark attack.
Shark Attack
"It's probably related to the fish carcasses that fishermen throw in this area," the firefighter continued, adding, "There are many sharks, such as blacktips, hammerheads, and lemon sharks."
The incident isn't the first of its kind. A few years ago, another boy, Jameson Reeder Jr., lost part of his lower leg in a shark attack. He just now gathered the courage to go back into the water.
"I wanted to go in and for a split two seconds, it was like a whole flashback of the whole shark attack just because of the environment of the whole reef," he said. "I knew I had the Lord and so, I popped up and I just had a lot of fun."
The shark attack still stands clearly in the family's minds.
"They had to remove/amputate from just below the knee to save his life as it was not operable from the damage the shark had caused," his uncle Joshua Reeder wrote on Facebook in 2022. "They said the shark made the decision for him and wasn't anything they could do to save it."
Fortunately, Reeder is getting his life back again, and hopefully the 7-year-old will too as well.
"I was a pitcher before the shark attack and I'm trying to get back to it. I've had some tough times and pain," the boy said, "but with how good prosthetics are getting, I actually have no more pain now playing."
