French Polynesia: Child bitten by shark in Bora Bora

Helmut Nickel (mail), Shark Year Magazine,
18. March 2015

On Monday, March 16, late in the morning around 10 a.m., a 9-year-old child was bitten on the hand by a shark in Bora Bora which belongs the Society Islands of French Polynesia in the Pacific Ocean.

The boy was accompanied by his mother when the incident occurred during a guided tour to a lagoon in Anau where tourists are given the opportunity to see stingrays and small blacktip reef sharks (Carcharhinus melanopterus). This shark species is also believed to be involved in the incident.

According to the news-site ‘Tahiti Infos’, the child was holding ‘a piece of fish in his hand’ when he got bitten.
He was airlifted to Taaone Hospital on the island of Tahiti to undergo surgery.

The case is now under investigation by the authorities in Bora Bora.

Source: ‘Tahiti Infos’.