A 6-year-old girl is in critical condition after a shark attack on the North Carolina coast.
Cyndy Holda of the National Park Service told WNCT that the child was bitten on her lower portion of her right leg and a foot around 5:30 p.m. Tuesday on Ocracoke Island.
Holda says the girl she was swimming with a boogie board in shallow water with her parents when she was bitten.
“Bystanders described what appeared to be a shark attacking a child in the South Point area," Hyde County Deputy Emergency Services Director, Brian Carter, said in a news release.
The girl was flown to Pitt County Memorial Hospital.
A park service spokesman says the last shark bite on the Cape Hatteras National Seashore was off Avon in 2001 when a man died from his injuries.
In June, a shark bit a 10-year-old girl at Topsail Beach. She was standing in 3 feet of water when the shark bit her twice on the leg before letting go.
On behalf of the girl's family, the following statement was issued Wednesday evening:
"Our daughter is in good condition after receiving a shark bite to the right leg. The shark attack occurred in two feet of water on Ocracoke Island. Mom was ten feet away and witnessed the event. Paramedics arrived promptly and she received excellent medical attention from EMS personnel, life-flight crew, and Pitt County Memorial Hospital medical staff in Greenville. She is in good spirits, declaring this morning that, "I hate sharks. I like dolphins way better. From this point forward, we will not be releasing any additional information about her condition. Also, we will not be granting any media interviews. Thank you for respecting our privacy."
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