A 9-year-old girl was attacked by a shark while on a family vacation to Boca Grande, Florida. Following the traumatic attack, she had to undergo emergency surgery on her hand.
In a video statement, Boca Grande Fire Chief C.W. Blosser confirmed that the girl was bitten by a shark. she was airlifted to a nearby hospital for surgery.
"They were able to get her out of the water and get her up on the road on Shore Lane," the fire chief said. "Doctors were able to put her hand back together."
Meanwhile, the girl's family says that her mother Nadia was only a few feet away when the attack happened. Her daughter Leah screamed and held her arm. She had a bite across her right hand and wrist. Construction workers at the scene helped wrap the toddler's hand in a towel after the shark attack.
Shark Attacks Toddler
The girl's family shared in a statement with Gulf Coast News that her mother Nadia was only four feet away from her and holding two of her younger children when Leah screamed. Bystander Alfonso Tello saw a shark.
"When we saw the little girl coming out of the water with no hand, it was like something out of a... it gets me like... everybody was in shock," Tello said.
Following the shark attack, Nadia released a statement about the incident.
"They had to get arteries from her leg to the hand," she said in the statement. "Got the blood flow back to her hand. Install pins in bones. Still has open tissues," she said. "They will be monitoring her here for a week. But thank God she can move her fingers."
The fire chief says this would be the first shark attack in 20 years.
"We've had a lot of other concerns about the water being safe around the island," Blosser said. "Anytime you're in the water anywhere in Florida, there's animals, there's wildlife, there's always the potential for some kind of interaction with wildlife. It is tarpon season so there's an increased chance of sharks being in the area."
"These occurrences are limited, but there always is a potential," he also added. "I don't think it's a cause for alarm at this point, and we'll just continue to monitor the waters and the situation."
