A 17-year-old teenager was viciously bitten on his arm after he pulled a 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 responded to the scene around 3:30 pm when the teen was injured and his father attempted to stop the bleeding using a tourniquet. Unfortunately, the boat experienced power loss, leaving the injured teenager stranded at sea.
Law enforcement contacted the Coast Guard Command Center reporting the urgent situation, mentioning the teen’s critical condition. The father had quickly applied a tourniquet before the arrival of the Galveston Island Beach Patrol at 3:30 pm, approximately two hours after the shark bite incident.
Rescue teams, including the Coast Guard, provided immediate medical care by applying a second tourniquet to the boy’s arm. He was then transported to the University of Texas Medical Branch for further treatment. The current status of his condition remains undisclosed.
Galveston County Sheriff Jimmy Fullen clarified that the incident was not a shark attack in the water but rather a situation where the shark was brought onto the boat. The shark bite likely occurred when the teen tried to remove a hook from its mouth.
Shark encounters in Texas are rare, with only 19 documented cases since 1911, according to the Florida Museum of Natural History. The International Shark Attack File (ISAF) investigated 105 alleged shark-human interactions globally in 2025.
ISAF reported 65 unprovoked shark bites and 29 provoked bites in 2025, aligning with the average of 61 incidents annually between 2020 and 2024. Fullen emphasized that while shark bites are a possibility in the water, the incident highlights the risks associated with interacting with wildlife.