– Volusia County Beach Patrol officials say a 14-year-old surfer was bitten on the foot Sunday in New Smyrna Beach.
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The boy’s father, Joshua Bitner, of Sparks, Ga., told police that a 4-foot shark with a black tip on its dorsal fin was thrashing in the water near his son.
He was swimming at Fernandina Beach, near the Georgia-Florida line when he says he felt something grab his leg.
The man said he we was sitting on top of a surfboard when something bit down on his foot.
Josh was treated by paramedics at the scene and taken to a hospital in Jacksonville for treatment. “It was just instinct”. He never saw the shark that bit him, leaving an injury that spanned around four inches, beach officials state. “If something is turning me around and hurting me, then I’m going to punch it”. “I pushed myself out of the water until people saw I was split open, then they lifted me out of the water”. He’s in good condition. The 12-year-old Georgia boy screamed “shark”, yet his dad thought he was fooling around.
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There have been 15 reported instances of shark attacks in Florida this year.
