A 17-year-old teenager was viciously bitten by a shark after he pulled the shark 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 contacted around 3:30 pm on Monday after the teen sustained an arm bite. His father attempted to control the bleeding using a tourniquet. However, the situation worsened as the boat lost power while still at sea, leaving the injured teenager stranded.
The police notified the Coast Guard Command Center about the incident, reporting the teen’s critical condition. His father had promptly applied a tourniquet before the Galveston Island Beach Patrol arrived at 3:30 pm, two hours after the shark bite occurred. Upon reaching the shore, rescue teams, including the Coast Guard, applied a second tourniquet to the boy’s arm. He was then transported to the University of Texas Medical Branch. His current medical status is undisclosed.
Galveston County Sheriff Jimmy Fullen clarified that the shark bite was not a result of an underwater attack but rather occurred as the shark was brought onto the boat. The incident likely happened when the teen was trying to remove a hook from the shark’s mouth. Fullen emphasized that shark encounters in Texas are rare, with only 19 incidents reported since 1911, according to the Florida Museum of Natural History.
In 2025, the International Shark Attack File (ISAF) investigated 105 reported shark-human interactions worldwide. Of these, 65 were unprovoked shark bites, and 29 were provoked bites where a human initiated contact with a shark. These figures align with the average annual incidents from 2020 to 2024. ISAF highlights that shark incidents in Texas are infrequent, underscoring the uncommon nature of such occurrences in the region.
