Shark attacks 10-year-old Maryland boy at resort in Bahamas

Police are investigating after a young boy visiting from Maryland was bitten by a shark at a resort in the Bahamas on Monday.

The 10-year-old boy was not named in a news release from the Royal Bahamas Police Force, was bitten while participating in an expedition in a shark tank at a local resort on Paradise Island, one of the nearly 300 islands in the Bahamas. 

The incident occurred shortly before 4 p.m., the news release said. The boy was bitten on the right leg. He was transported to an area hospital and is in stable condition, according to the news release. 

It’s not clear if the boy was with family members when the attack happened.   

Police did not identify the resort where the attack happened. Atlantis Paradise Island offers shark experiences at its location but the resort did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Associated Press.  

In December, a Boston woman was killed in a shark attack in the Bahamas. Lauren Erickson Van Wart, 44, was paddleboarding with a family member when she was bitten by a shark, CBS News previously reported. She was declared dead at the scene by emergency responders. 

Shark attacks are rare, and fatal incidents are even more unlikely. The Florida Museum of Natural History’s International Shark Attack File investigated 108 alleged shark-human interactions worldwide in 2022, and confirmed 57 unprovoked bites and 32 provoked bites. Five of the cases could not be confirmed. 

“It is extremely unlikely for swimmers and surfers to be bitten by — or even encounter — sharks,” Lauren Gaches, director of public affairs for NOAA Fisheries, told CBS News previously.