AUSTRALIA — A 10-year-old boy is in stable condition after being pulled out of a boat by a shark in Australia.
The boy was on a fishing boat with his father and two friends near Stanley off Tasmania’s north-west coast when the shark bit the boy and pulled him into the water.
“All of a sudden the shark leaped clean out of the water, hit the side of the boat and snapped the rod clean off in the rod holder, and grabbed the boy, all in the one swipe… and pulled him into the water,” said diver Ben Allen, who saw the attack.
Allen said the boy’s father immediately jumped into the water to save his son.
“The dad, obviously, natural instinct, jumped clean into the water and grabbed his son and managed to get him straight back into the boat,” Allen said.
Allen said the boy was taken to a nearby seafood shop, where first aid was administered until an ambulance arrived.
“They raced in and alerted the authorities, and yeah, got him in as soon as they could,” Allen said.