A 17-year-old teenager was viciously bitten by a shark after he hauled the marine creature onto a boat off the coast of Galveston, Texas. The incident occurred during a boat trip with his father and another individual. Emergency services were summoned around 3:30 pm on Monday following the attack, where the teen sustained an arm injury. His father tried to stop the bleeding using a tourniquet, but the situation worsened as the boat lost power while still at sea, leaving the injured teenager stranded.
Local authorities contacted the Coast Guard Command Centre for assistance, reporting that the teen had been bleeding for hours and was in critical condition. The boy’s father promptly applied a tourniquet before the arrival of the Galveston Island Beach Patrol. The shark bite had taken place approximately two hours before help arrived.
Rescue teams, including the Coast Guard, provided immediate medical attention by applying a second tourniquet to the boy’s arm. He was then transported to the University of Texas Medical Branch for further treatment. The current status of his condition remains undisclosed.
Galveston County Sheriff Jimmy Fullen clarified that the shark bite was not a result of an attack in the water but rather occurred when the shark was brought aboard the boat. The incident may have occurred as the teenager tried to remove a hook from the shark’s mouth.
Shark encounters in Texas are infrequent, with only 19 reported incidents since 1911, according to the Florida Museum of Natural History. The International Shark Attack File (ISAF) investigated 105 alleged shark-human interactions globally in 2025. Of these, ISAF confirmed 65 unprovoked bites and 29 provoked bites, where humans initiated contact with the sharks. The 2025 figures align with the average number of incidents reported annually from 2020 to 2024, according to the ISAF.
