FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - An 11-year-old Canadian boy has been released from the hospital after a shark bit him on his foot on Fort Lauderdale Beach.
Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue crews responded to the shoreline near The Ritz-Carlton, located along North Fort Lauderdale Beach Boulevard, just before 9 a.m., Wednesday.
Christian Mariani was transported to Broward Health Medical Center’s Salah Foundation Children’s Hospital for a minor toe injury. Fire officials said he has since been released from the hospital.
Wednesday afternoon, Mariani and Dr. Francis Amador from BHMC spoke about the ordeal and his treatment at a news conference held at the hospital.
The young patient, who was on vacation with his family, said he was in waist-deep water when he said he felt a biting, stinging sensation on his right foot.
“It was really scary because I knew something bit me,” he said.
Mariani then got out of the water as fast as possible, and that’s when he noticed a lot of blood on his foot.
“It didn’t really feel like it was pulling. It’s not like I ran out, and then it let go,” he said. “I felt it clamp down, and then it let go, and then I ran out.”
Amador believes the boy was bitten by a shark.
“It was just a bite, and then it let go, so that was lucky for him,” he said.
Even more fortunate for Mariani, a group of lifeguards happened to be training nearby and heard his screams.
“It was pretty quick. It was like maybe like — so I got out. I was there for like two minutes, and then they ran,” said Mariani.
The lifeguards provided first aid to the 11-year-old. Photos released by FLFR showed paramedics treating his foot, which had visible teeth marks.
“Just the fear of not knowing what bit you and what’s gonna happen to your foot after, that is the scariest feeling that I think I have ever experienced,” said Mariani.
Seventeen stitches later, doctors said, he should be just fine.
Fire rescue officials said shark bites aren’t common, but they do happen.
“This time of year, we see a lot of bait fish that are coming down the coast. It’s the ocean. It’s very natural for these fish to be feeding,” said FLFR Battalion Chief Stephen Gollan.
Mariani is scheduled to start seventh grade in a few days. He said he plans to return to the water as soon as he has the stitches removed from his foot in a couple of weeks.
“I feel more lucky than unlucky. I know it’s a very low chance to get bit by a shark, but to be in the condition I am right now, that it also very lucky,” he said.
Copyright 2024 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.