An eight-year-old British boy has suffered a shark attack while on holiday in the Bahamas, in what his dad has described as “like a scene out of Jaws”.
Finley Downer had to be pulled to safety by his sister after he was attacked by around three nurse sharks while swimming in a lagoon last week.
He suffered flesh wounds after being bitten on both legs, and had to be taken to a local health clinic on a golf buggy before undergoing a three-hour operation in the capital Nassau.
Finley’s father, Michael Downer, 44, said his son “could have been killed” in the attack, adding: “It was like a scene out of Jaws”.
The boy was attacked in the Bahamas
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Mr Downer, who had taken his children Finley, eight, Lily, nine, and Emily, 12, on a luxury holiday, said the family had been part way through their five-island tour when the attack took place at Compass Cay.
He said the children had decided to join a crowd of people in a lagoon, in which nurse sharks were swimming.
Mr Downer said he suddenly “heard a terrified scream and saw dozens (of sharks) circling Finley”.
“There was so much blood. Bits of his leg were hanging off.
“He kept saying, ‘Dad I don’t want to die. Dad, I don’t want to go to heaven’," he told The Sun.
Finley was pulled from the water by his older sister Lily, and Mr Downer had to spend £2,000 on flights to the Bahamas capital, Nassau, for a three-hour operation on Finley’s legs.
The family has now returned home to Kettering, Northamptonshire, where Finley is recovering from his injuries and using a wheelchair.
Mr Downer expressed his anger at being told by tour guides the sharks were safe.
Operator Exuma Escapes claimed that the family went unguided into a lagoon which it does not use on its tour, adding in a statement to The Sun that nurse sharks are docile bottom-feeders unless they are handled incorrectly.
Nurse shark
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