Pregnant wife jumps into water to save man as 9-foot bull shark bit his shoulder while snorkeling in Florida
FLORIDA KEYS, FLORIDA: A man was rescued by his pregnant wife after a "nine-foot bull shark" latched onto his shoulder while on a snorkeling trip in the Florida Keys. Andrew Eddy, 30, had been on a private boat along with his wife, Margot Dukes-Eddy, her parents, her sister, her sister's boyfriend when the shark attack took place. According to the Monroe County Sheriff's Office, the incident had occurred on Sunday, September 20, morning at the Sombrero Reef.
Eddy had entered the water when a large shark latched itself onto his shoulder. It was Eddy's brave and pregnant wife whose quick thinking saved him after she jumped into the water to save her bloodied and wounded husband, witnesses revealed, Daily Mail reports. It is unknown how far along Margot is in her pregnancy. Deputy Christopher Aguanno had written in a report, "Dukes saw the shark's dorsal fin and then blood filling the water. Dukes, without hesitation, dove into the water and pulled Eddy to the safety of the boat."
Deputies have said that Eddy's shark bite was quite severe. By the time they reached back to the beach in Marathon, medics had arrived and were waiting for them. Eddy was then rushed to the Ryder Trauma Center at Miami's Jackson Memorial Hospital. A report from the Miami Herald revealed that Margot did not sustain any injuries during her brave resuce. There were several other people who had been snorkelling at the time of the incident, the deputy revealed. Other boaters had told deputies that they had spotted a bull shark in the area the same morning which they estimated to be around nine-ft long.
Eddy's condition is currently unknown and the family has requested privacy as they navigate this. The couple have been married since October 2017 as per Margot's Facebook page. The retired director of the University of Florida's International Shark Attack File, George Burgess, shared that it was likely a bull shark which had bitten Eddy. The file states that there have been around 17 unprovoked shark attacks since 1882 in Monroe County. The Volusia County in Florida has had around 312 attacks which has earned it the title of 'the shark bite capital of the world'. It is said that the Keys does not have waves which make the Volusia County beaches popular with swimmers and surfers.
In Keys, most people spend time snorkeling and scuba diving, activities which are less likely to attract sharks. As per NBC News, Sheriff Rick Ramsay was full of praise for rescuers, including Margot, and said, "This was a very rare medical crisis for the Florida Keys, but everyone came together — including those witnesses on the boat to 911 Communicators to all our emergency responders — in order to ensure this victim received life saving care." The program director at the File, Gavin Naylor, said that it was "atypical for a shark to be this aggressive". Naylor added, "We haven’t had a shark bite in Monroe for about 10 years." He also advised beachgoers to exert caution and follow common sense. He advised people to avoid the waters if there had been any shark sightings.