Shark bites 8-year-old boy in Florida Keys, prompts airlift to Miami hospital: Sheriff

(KEY LARGO, Fla.) — An 8-year-old boy was bitten by a shark while snorkeling off the coast of Key Largo, Florida, on Labor Day, officials said.

The incident occurred around 3:24 p.m. on Monday, Monroe County Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post. The child was airlifted by Trauma Star to Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami.

A good Samaritan, identified as Richard Hayden, heard calls for help over the radio and helped guide the boy’s boat to shore, according to an incident report. Hayden assisted the child’s father in applying tourniquets to the boy’s right leg to control bleeding before emergency responders arrived, the report stated.

Officials notified the U.S. Coast Guard and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission about the incident. The Key Largo Fire Department said they believed the attacking shark was a reef shark of unknown length.

The boy’s current condition has not yet been released.

This attack marks the latest in a series of shark encounters in the Florida Keys region. Last July, a 37-year-old man survived multiple bites from a bull shark while spearfishing near a reef off Key West.