‘It bit my flipper off.’ Shark attacks 10-year-old boy snorkeling at Australia reef

Snorkeling with his father Friday on Five Finger Reef about 250 feet offshore, an Australian 10-year-old spotted what looked like a shadow under the water.

“But then it came closer and got faster and faster,” Jackson Bartlett told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

“It bit my flipper off and then bit me again and bit my other flipper off and got my leg,” Jackson said, according to the network. “At the moment, I thought I was going to die because it was really scary.”

Authorities say a 6-foot bronze whaler shark bit Jackson on the foot off Coral Bay in Western Australia about 11 a.m. He was airlifted to a hospital in Perth.

A nearby beach was closed for 24 hours, according to the state Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development. It has since reopened.

Officials recovered the boy’s swim fins for scientific analysis, the agency said.

“I still like sharks but I just don’t want to swim too close to big ones like that,” Jackson told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. He plans to return to the ocean.

Bronze whaler sharks, also called dusky sharks, can reach up to 12 feet in length and weigh up to 400 pounds, according to National Geographic. They are long-distance swimmers.

A shark attack killed Mark Sanguinetti, 59, as he surfed with friends at Tuncurry Beach in New South Wales in May, news.com.au reported.

This story was originally published June 13, 2021 at 8:18 AM with the headline "‘It bit my flipper off.’ Shark attacks 10-year-old boy snorkeling at Australia reef."