The United States was in the grip of shark fever on Monday after second attack in three days off the Florida panhandle, in which a teenage boy lost a leg.
Craig Hutto (16) of Lebanon, Tennessee, was taken to Bay Medical Centre in Panama City, where his leg was amputated. He was listed in critical condition but was expected to recover, said hospital spokesperson Christa Hild.
The teenager was attacked while fishing in shallow water in the Cape San Blas area, a popular holiday destination 160km from the beach where Jamie Marie Daigle (14) was killed by a shark on Saturday.
Craig Hutto was with two friends when the shark bit him on the right thigh, nearly severing his leg, said the Gulf county sheriff’s captain, Bobby Plair.
The three boys tried to get the shark off, hitting it on the nose several times. The teenager was pulled ashore by his friends and a doctor who happened to be nearby began treatment before he was taken to the hospital, Plair said.
”It got the main arteries in the right leg,” he added.
Saturday’s victim had been swimming on a boogie board with a friend about 100m from shore when a 1,9m bull shark tore away the flesh on one of her legs from the hip to the knee.
Despite the efforts of surfer, Tim Dicus (54) who tried to fend off the shark, the girl died. Dicus said: ”He just followed us right to the beach.”
After Saturday’s attack, a 32km stretch of shore was closed to swimmers, but the beaches reopened on Sunday with double the number of patrol officers.
Florida averaged more than 30 shark attacks a year from 2000 to 2003, but there were only 12 attacks off the state’s coast last year. – Guardian Unlimited Â