 A boy in Australia has died after being bit on the leg by a shark. The boy, who was sixteen years old was with a friend at the time of the attack. The friend claimed that he believed the victim was joking when he was being attacked by a shark. "I thought he was only joking, so I went over to him and as I flipped him over I saw his leg," he said.
The attack, which occurred off northern New South Wales, Australia, was the first fatality from a shark attack in the area for over two years. There have, however been many more attacks which have not resulted in deaths.
It is unusual for sharks to attack humans. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), attacks on humans are normally a result of mistakes by the shark. The NOAA also says that sharks sometimes mistake humans for its natural prey, such as fish or a marine mammal or sea turtle, and that sharks most often will release the person after the first bite. It has also been claimed that the majority of shark bites are "hit-and-run" attacks by smaller species, such as blacktip and spinner sharks.

Have an opinion on this story? Share it!
A very small part of this article is based on content from a source which is in the public domain. Please see the talk page for more details. 
Share this: 






This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.
Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.
Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.
Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.
Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.
Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.
Boy killed by shark in Australia