INQUISITR.COM / News & Politics

North Carolina Shark Attack: 8-Year-Old Boy Bitten

By Dustin Wicksell
Published on: 01:43 PST, Jun 25, 2015

An 8-year-old boy has been injured by a shark off the North Carolina coast, just a few weeks after several other high profile attacks transpired in the same region.

The incident took place on Wednesday in Surf City, North Carolina, according to People. An 8-year-old boy, who has not been named, was swimming in knee-deep water when the shark struck, inflicting minor injuries on his leg and foot. Following treatment by emergency personnel at the scene, the boy’s parents transported him to a hospital, in order to have the wounds inflicted by the shark cleaned.

The encounter marks the fourth shark bite to be reported along the North Carolina coast in the space of just a few weeks. Wednesday’s events took place roughly 60 miles from Oak Island, the site of an extremely rare dual shark attack earlier this month. As the Inquisitr previously reported, 12-year-old Kiersten Yow and 16-year-old Hunter Treschl were both attacked by sharks less than 90 minutes and two miles apart. Both of the teens lost limbs in the attacks, which were notable for their severity.

Since Wednesday’s shark incident resulted in only superficial injuries, Surf City Town Manager Larry Bergman noted that authorities have no plans to warn swimmers or to close beaches. As ABC News reports, police beach patrols have been increased in the wake of the shark attack, however. Bergman said that, were beachgoers in imminent danger from a shark, he would have opted instead to close the beaches.

“It really comes down to a joint decision on public safety officials, including myself,” Bergman noted.

The beach at Surf City is a place where swimmers enter the ocean “kind of at their own risk,” according to Bergman. The town does not employ a dedicated staff of lifeguards, instead relying on police and firefighters who are trained in water rescue to patrol the area. At the time of the shark incident on Wednesday, the eight-year-old boy had been swimming roughly five blocks from a nearby pier. Swimming or surfing within 300 feet of the pier is prohibited, and in other locales, shark attacks have been known to take place near such structures.

Bergman also observed that several people had approached police officers to speak about the incident, after hearing about the shark attack through social media.

[Image via People]

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