Witnesses said a boy was attacked by a shark at Atlantis Paradise Island Bahamas (Picture: Getty Images)
A 10-year-old boy was attacked by a shark while on a ‘Shark Tank’ expedition at a resort in the Bahamas.
The boy, from Maryland, was attacked shortly before 4pm on Monday at Paradise Island.
‘Preliminary reports indicate that the boy was bitten on the right leg by a shark while participating in an expedition in a Shark Tank at a local resort on Paradise Island,’ stated the Royal Bahamas Police Force.
The boy was transported to a hospital and is in stable condition, according to the force.
An investigation into the incident is ongoing.
Police Superintendent Chrislyn Skippings who works on the island told NBC News on Tuesday: ‘I have never been over to the aquarium that they’re referring to. As for how it’s set up, you’ll have to speak to personnel at the resort.’
Skippings did not disclose the resort where the incident took place.
Two witnesses, Michael and Tori Massie, said they were at the Atlantis Paradise Island Bahamas tank partaking in the ‘Walking with the Sharks’ program run by another company when the boy was attacked.
The experience led by guides was peaceful but ‘once the little boy came down, it just kind of took a dark turn’, Tori told the news outlet.
‘We saw the sharks hone in on him and then just like a pool of blood afterwards.’
The program is described as ‘easy and fun as you find yourself face-to-face with the guardians…’ but appears to have been taken down by Atlantis following the attack.
Michael said they signed a waiver before going into the tank but that the program ‘failed this child and this family’.
The resort also has a ‘Snorkel the Ruins of Atlantis’ program that gives participants ‘the rare opportunity to snorkel through the Ruins Lagoon alongside sleek sharks, spotted rays, and brilliantly colored tropical fish in this underwater setting’.
Atlantis did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Metro.co.uk on Wednesday.
The boy was bitten seven months after a 73-year-old woman from Iowa who had scuba dived more than 500 times lost her leg in a shark attack while in the water south of Taino Beach in the Bahamas.
In April 2018, a 12-year-old boy from Edinburgh survived an attack by a bull shark while vacationing off Bimini Island in the Bahamas.
