10-year-old Maryland boy injured in shark attack in the Bahamas

A 10-year-old boy from Maryland was injured Monday when he was bitten by a shark in the Bahamas, according to the Royal Bahamas Police Force.

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The boy was bitten on his right leg just before 4 p.m. Monday, according to a news release from police. He was taken to a hospital, where he was listed in stable condition.

The incident happened as the boy was taking part in an expedition in a shark tank at a resort on Paradise Island.

Authorities did not identify the resort, though The Associated Press reported that Atlantis Paradise Island offers shark experiences on site. The resort did not respond to request for comment from the news agency.

Shark attacks are rare, with the University of Florida’s International Shark Attack Files registering 57 unprovoked bites and 32 provoked bites in 2022, the last year for which data was available. A majority of those happened in the United States and Australia.

“Shark attacks are extremely rare when you consider everything else that can happen to an individual when they go swimming,” John Carlson, a research fishery biologist with NOAA Fisheries, said in a 2015 video for the agency.

“Think for example the number of people that drown every year that are caught in rip currents. That number far exceeds the number of people that are attacked by sharks.”

Last month, a 44-year-old woman visiting the Bahamas from Boston died in a shark attack.

Officials said Lauren Erickson Van Wart was bitten while paddleboarding three-quarters of a mile from the shore of the Sandals Resort in western New Province, WFXT reported.

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