A Florida teenager was bitten in the face by a shark last week.
Thirteen-year-old Fischer Hricko, of Casselberry, had the scare of his life while he was catching lobsters with his family on 27 July, FOX35 first reported.
Fischer’s mother, Rhiannon Hricko, was navigating the boat when she heard her son yelling for help.
“He just popped up screaming ‘mom, mom, shark! Get me out of here! Get me out of the water!’” Ms Hricko told FOX.
Fischer recounted the terrifying moments before he was pulled out of the water by his mother.
“I saw a big [lobster] and I got it in my hand. On the way up, when I had the lobster in my hand, I felt a little tap on the back of my leg, and I looked behind me and the shark was in my face,” Fischer also told FOX.
Fischer’s lip was split open and his mother managed to bring him back on the boat. The teenager was taken to a local hospital, where he received ten stitches.
It comes amid increasing reports of shark attacks in the country. There have been roughly 29 reported shark attacks this year, according to the website Tracking Sharks.
Eighteen of those incidents have taken place in Florida, six in New York, three in South Carolina, and two in California.
The recent increase in attacks on New York beaches might be the result of a combination of conservation efforts and climate change, CNN reported last week.
“The country is warmer than it’s ever been. And that’s going to drive more people to the water than ever before, which just simply increases your probability of somebody getting accidentally bit,” California State University Shark Lab director Christopher Lowe told CNN Saturday.
