A teen has been bitten by a shark in the Bahamas.
Johnny Stoch was snorkeling with his family August 9, when he was bitten on the left leg by a shark.
“I kicked its nose and it went up to get me again and then it let go and swam away,” the 15-year-old told Abc7. He said the shark’s head was around a foot wide and “it was on my leg, tearing through.”
His mother saw the shark and began screaming, which alerted Johnny’s father John. “My wife has got Jacob (Johnny’s younger brother) and is trying to push him to the boat to get out of the water because, I mean, now there’s blood spilled everywhere,” John said.
Johnny was able to swim back to the boat. As he was being assisted out of the water, his father saw his son’s leg was missing part of the calf muscle. “They pull him out and when I see his leg my heart is up here. I start swimming as fast as I can to the boat,” John said.
The injury was extensive and the Illinois teenager thought his leg was gone. “I thought it was bone,” he said. “I thought my whole leg was almost gone, but turns out it wasn’t.”
After arriving back to shore, Johnny was transported by pickup truck to the Doctors Hospital in Nassau. Amazingly even after the hour ride, doctors were able to reconstruct the calf muscle.
“I really want to thank the doctor (Dr. Ross Downs) that saved my leg because without him I wouldn’t have one.” Johnny said.
While he new sophomore has several months of recovery left, he still likes sharks. “I don’t blame [the shark] at all. I still like them. I’m not afraid of them,” he said.
Just last month, spearfisherman Dr. Steve Cutbirth was bitten by a bull shark in the Bahamas. Dr. Cutrbirth was holding a freshly killed fish when he was bitten on the face and leg. Thankfully, his mask protected most of his face, although he did have several lacerations to his lip.
There have been a total of fifty-four shark attacks bites in 2016. Five of which were fatal. Twenty-three reported in the US, with fifteen occurring in Florida. Eleven have occurred in Australia, three of which were fatal.
All locations are marked on the 2016 Shark Attack tracking map.
