A 17-year-old Texas boy out fishing with his dad and a pal was badly bitten when he tried to pull a shark into a fishing boat in a Memorial Day mishap, according to reports.
The mishap happened 2 miles off the Galveston coastline, forcing the unnamed teen’s dad to apply a tourniquet to his son’s leg before making an emergency call to the US Coast Guard, KHOU-TV reported.
Making matters worse, the fishing boat then malfunction, leaving the injured boy and his father stranded in the middle of the Gulf before the Coast Guard reached them around 3 p.m. Monday.
The Guard applied a second tourniquet to the bloodied leg and rushed the teen to the University of Texas Medical Branch, where he was treated for the wounds, the outlet said.
The teen’s condition was not immediately available, but officials said he remained alert and conscious throughout the watery ordeal.
Meanwhile, Galveston Beach patrol said the incident was off shore and posed no threat to area beaches.
Shark attacks have terrorized beachgoers across the globe for years, including a 39-year-old spear-fisherman who was mauled to death earlier this month near Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.
Last month, a Spanish honeymooner lost his leg in another attack in the Maldives while his wife watched.
Also last month, officials in Southern California warned that warmer water temperatures could lead to an uptick in shark sightings along popular beaches, primarily along Santa Monica Bay up to Santa Barbara.
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