Australian Dad Saves Son After Shark Pulls Him from Boat

A ten-year-old boy was rescued by his father after a shark pulled him from the boat during a fishing trip on Thursday.

“A 10 year-old boy has been taken to the North West Regional Hospital following a shark attack this afternoon off Stanley on Tasmania’s North West Coast,” Ambulance Tasmania posted to Facebook in the wee hours of Friday morning.

“The boy, from the North-West, was aboard a six-metre vessel on a fishing expedition about five kilometres from shore with his father and two other men when a shark grabbed him from the boat,” the post said.

The unnamed boy was saved by the quick response of his father. He jumped into the water after his son, scaring the shark away before any more damage was done. Even so, the child suffered “lacerations to his arm, and other cuts to his chest and head.”

Despite his injuries, the boy is safe at North West Regional Hospital, and in stable condition.

Australia has already suffered five fatal shark attacks in 2020, the most recent being the death of a 15-year-old surfer from the small town of Minnie Water. The country has the highest incidence of shark attacks in the world. But thanks to a lucky ten-year-old boy’s father, there will be one less casualty in 2020.