'Scene out of Jaws': SHARK ATTACK left boy, 8, with chunks of flesh hanging off his legs
KETTERING, UK: An 8-year-old British boy had "chunks of flesh" hanging off both his legs after he was attacked by three sharks in the Bahamas.
Finley Downer was on a luxurious vacation in the Bahamas with his family when the hair-raising incident happened. The boy had to be dragged out by his 12-year-old sister Lilly and rushed to the nearest hospital after three nurse sharks bit both of his legs.
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Finley's father, Michael, had booked a luxurious holiday trip with his three children - Finley, 8, Lily, 9, and Emily, 12, and which included the five-island excursion and guided swimming with pigs. Michael revealed that while enjoying the trip, his children spotted a shiver of sharks and insisted on playing with them; but they were unaware that the sharks were being fed on scraps being thrown at them.
Downer told The Sun: "Suddenly, I heard a terrifying scream and saw dozens circling Finley. There was so much blood. The bits of his leg were hanging off. My son could have been killed. It was like a scene out of Jaws." Luckily, Finley was dragged out by his 12-year-old sister and was taken to the nearest hospital on a Golf van.
Later, Downer paid for a £2,000 ($2,450) flight to take Finley to Nassau for a three-hour operation. The Downer family is currently in their home town Kettering, Northamptonshire. Luckily, Finley is out of danger but is still using a wheelchair as his leg wounds will take time to heal.
The incident has left Michael furious at the tour guide who told him the sharks in the area were safe and friendly. However, the operator Exuma Escapes, said the family went without a guide into a lagoon that is not not on the tour itinerary. Their website says that the nurse sharks at Compass Cay "were initially brought as pets, however, after gaining popularity through tourism, the Compass Cay Marina has turned the environment into a sanctuary."
This is not the first incident when sharks in the Bahamas have attacked humans or killed them. Back in June 2019, Jordan Lindsey, a Loyola-Marymount University student from Torrance, California, was killed in a shark attack in the Bahamas. Authorities revealed that the right arm of the 21-year-old was torn in the attack, and she suffered bites to her left arm, both legs, and buttocks.
This incident left the Lindsey family traumatized and made them take strict actions to prevent what happened with Jordan. When asked what kind of changes he would like to see put in place, a Lindsey family member said: "Definitely have some kind of medical training for everyone. From the captain down to the deck hands. Everyone should know … what to do in case there is some kind of big tragedy like that … and then have the supplies to stop bleeding or if someone has a heart attack."