A seven-year-old boy has been left with serious injuries after being attacked by a shark in Nuka Hiva, French Polynesia, authorities have said. The fire department of Nuka Hiva – the largest of the Marquesas Islands – said around 10 children were playing and jumping in Taioha’e Bay when the incident occurred on Friday (July 25).
According to local officials, the boy was bitten on the arm and leg, before being airlifted to the main hospital in Tahiti. A firefighter who helped the injured child said: “I’m 35 years old and this is the first time I’ve seen this. These were long and deep wounds.” He added: “It’s probably related to the fish carcasses that fishermen throw in this area. There are many sharks, such as blacktips, hammerheads, and lemon sharks.”
The child was taken to Nuka Hiva’s small hospital before being transferred to the French Polynesia hospital centre in Tahiti, some 930 miles from the idyllic island.
Shark attacks are rare in French Polynesia and are often linked to spearfishing, handling fish traps or feeding sharks, which is prohibited. The waters of the French overseas collectivity were declared a shark sanctuary in 2006, and since then, populations have remained fairly healthy. A study carried out by a team of researchers from the Paris Science et Lettres (PSL) Research University found that when shark bites do happen in the area, it is mostly due to self-defence.
The study, which reviewed over 60 years of shark bite data, found that in these cases, often triggered by harpooning, spear-gun strikes and rough handling, sharks typically inflict superficial wounds that are rarely fatal unless unfortunate circumstances, like arterial damage, occur.
Last year, South African tourist Angus Kockott was bitten by a shark while freediving around the Gambier Islands in French Polynesia. The shark approached him from behind a reef and took a bite on his arm, damaging his nerves and tendons. He said: “Seeing that shark right before it bit me – that was a real ‘oh s***’ moment. My first reaction was to get my knife used for cutting lines, and I just went for the shark as hard as I could.”
However, the incident, which left him in “immense pain”, has not put Mr Kockott off being in the ocean: ” I can’t wait until I can go back. My assumption was it was a territory thing – you can’t blame the animal.”
This latest shark incident comes after a nine-year-old girl nearly lost her hands when she was attacked while snorkelling off the coast of Florida. Leah Lendel was swimming near the shore at a beach in Boca Grande on Wednesday, June 11, when a shark attacked, partially severing her hand, her mother, Nadia Lendel, told NBC Miami. Doctors inserted pins to stabilise her broken bones and transferred arteries from her leg to help restore blood flow to her hand. She will require therapy for her hand to function again, but she was able to move her fingers.