‘It was so fast and scary’: Fischer Hricko, 13, bitten in face by NURSE SHARK while catching lobsters
Fischer Hricko, a 13-year-old who went on vacation with his family to the Florida Keys, was bitten by a nurse shark in his face while lobstering on July 27. Fischer got 10 stitches on his upper lip because of the bite. In a recent interview with Fox 35, he narrated the details of the horrifying attack as he said: “I felt a little tap on the back of my leg, and I looked behind me and the shark was in my face.”
In conversation with the channel, Fischer spoke about the horror he felt for his life when he came face to face with the shark. He told, "I saw a big one [lobster], and I got it in my hand. On the way up, when I had the lobster in my hand, I felt a little tap on the back of my leg, and I looked behind me and the shark was in my face. It was scary, like, I tried getting away, but it was so fast." He also said, as per News6, "I just swam as fast as I could back to the boat, screaming." His father, Kent Hricko, said when he first heard his wife screaming about a shark, he thought there was one nearby. He said he had no idea a shark attacked his son. When he saw Fischer panicking and moving toward the boat, he tried swimming back to his son as fast as he could. He said, “When I’m approaching him, I’m just seeing blood gushing out of his face, and at that point, I’m like, ‘What happened?’"
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His mother Rhiannon Hricko, too, narrated the incident. She said, "He just popped up screaming, ‘Mom, Mom, shark! Get me out of here! Get me out of the water. It was honestly the scariest five minutes of my life. Just hearing that terror in your child’s voice, it’s something that I can’t actually get out of my head."
Fischer’s family rushed him back to shore and drove him to urgent care where he received 10 stitches on his upper lip. However, in spite of the stitches and the attack, he said: "It hurts every so often, but it’s fine now. I’m ready, but I feel like the first few times I’ll be a little scared, but I’ll get in the water."
Deaths from shark bites are rare
Data from the Florida Museum of Natural History shows that shark attacks and deaths from shark bites are extremely rare. The yearly average of shark bites globally is 70, resulting in about five deaths.
According to Tracking Sharks, there have been 31 shark attacks in the US, as of August 2. Coming to Florida, the state has seen the highest number of these attacks so far in 2022 with 18 cases, two of which were provoked data shows.
