Shark attack in Florida leaves man with ‘severe bite’

A man is in critical condition after a shark attack in the waters of Nassau County, Florida on Friday, suffering a “severe bite” to his right arm, officials say.

According to Nassau County Sheriff Bill Leeper, the marine unit was patrolling near Amelia Island – in northeast Florida along the Atlantic Ocean and Interstate 95 – and received a distress call around 11 a.m. Friday morning. When they arrived at the scene of the distress call, the sheriff’s office said they found an adult male with a “severe shark bite” on his forearm.

Leeper also said in the video posted on Facebook that the man “lost a lot of blood.” Leeper continued, “He was bleeding pretty badly. The deputy got on the boat, quickly checked him over and put a tourniquet on his arm to stop the bleeding,” Leeper said, calling the deputy at the scene a “hero.”

In the Facebook post, the sheriff’s office said the man was flown by helicopter to a nearby hospital, where he is in critical condition but is “expected to recover.”

Newsweek reached out to the Nassau County Sheriff’s Office via email Friday evening for further comment.

Meanwhile, the Sunshine State has seen more shark attacks recently, with two attacks occurring on the same day in the state’s Panhandle region that resulted in people being hospitalized earlier this month.

The attacks occurred on June 7 off the coast of Walton County, Florida. The attacks caused “devastating” injuries, South Walton Fire District Chief Ryan Crawford said in a press conference after the attacks.

The first incident, on June 7, involved a 45-year-old woman who went swimming with her husband in the afternoon. She suffered “significant trauma” and had to have her left forearm amputated. She is “holding on,” her husband said, according to media outlet WTVR, also noting that she has “a super positive attitude.”

In the second attack that day, two teenage girls were swimming in waist-deep water. Lulu Gribbin, 15, suffered “serious” injuries and was taken to a trauma hospital in “critical condition,” Crawford said. The second victim in that attack suffered “flesh wounds” and was in “stable” condition on the day of the attack, Crawford noted.

Lulu’s family has been documenting her recovery in posts on the website CaringBridge. A post from Lulu’s mother, Ann Blair Gribbin, on Thursday mentioned that Lulu had two surgeries the day before. “We hope we are one step closer to eliminating the bacteria and making each day more comfortable,” the post said, in part.