An eight-year-old boy was bitten by a shark while snorkelling off the Florida Keys and subsequently airlifted to a trauma centre in Miami. The incident occurred on Monday afternoon (Labour Day) off Key Largo.
Incident off Key Largo
According to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, the boy was with his father and a sibling at a reef on the seaward side of Key Largo when the bite occurred shortly before 3:30 PM. A snorkelling and diving charter boat brought the injured boy ashore. From there, he was airlifted by helicopter to the Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital for further treatment. The child’s condition was not initially disclosed. The left leg was affected.
“A witness on the scene, the father, reported heavy blood loss. The injury is significant; the patient is pale,” states the recorded radio communication of the emergency services.
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More InformationThe fire department praised the swift assistance provided by the charter boat’s crew, referring to them as a “Good Samaritan.” The suspected animal is described as a reef shark. Its length is unknown.
Classification: Rare, but possible
Florida records the most unprovoked shark attacks in the USA nationwide. However, they are comparatively rare in Monroe County: Between 1882 and 2021, 21 cases were recorded there—compared to over 900 across the entire state during the same period. In 2024, the USA recorded 28 unprovoked incidents according to the International Shark Attack File, with 14 of those in Florida.
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