An 8-year-old boy has suffered minor injuries after he was attacked by a shark while swimming in shallow waters at a beach in Surf City, N.C. on Wednesday, reported The Washington Post.
The boy suffered superficial injuries to his foot and leg and was treated on the beach by police and emergency medical services before his parents took him to a hospital for further treatment, according to Fox News.
In spite of several shark attacks on the North Carolina coastline in recent times, the town does not intend to warn visitors about the attack or ask swimmers to get out of the water but police patrolling on the beach has been increased, said Town manager Larry Bergman. The town does not have official lifeguards and instead employs police officers and firefighters trained for water-rescue operations to patrol the beaches. Visitors swim "kind of at their own risk," said Bergman.
"It really comes down to a joint decision on public safety officials, including myself," Bergman said. He said he would have shut the beach down "if there was a big hazard, if there was an imminent danger."
The young boy was swimming about five blocks from a fishing pier. According to the town policy, swimming or surfing within 300 feet of a fishing pier is prohibited.
This is the fourth such incident to take place in North Carolina this month. Two weeks ago, a 13-year-old girl was injured after she was bitten by a shark while swimming at Ocean Isle Beach. A few days later, two kids lost their limbs in two separate back-to-back shark attacks in Oak Island.
