Fisherman left fighting for his life after accidentally catching a shark

A man is fighting for his life in hospital after a shark attacked him whilst he was fishing in Florida , leaving him with a severe bite wound on his right forearm and losing ''a lot of blood.''

The victim, a man in his 40s, was on a boat near Fernandina Beach, north of Jacksonville, when he accidentally hooked the shark., which then sank its jaws into him.

The man threw the shark back into the sea, as reported by Action News Jax. The Nassau County Sheriff’s Office Marine Unit received an emergency distress call at 11.15 a.m. and quickly responded. Upon arrival, deputies discovered the man had "lost a lot of blood," according to a video posted on the sheriff’s Facebook page.

“Upon arrival, NCSO deputies found the victim with a critical injury . Acting swiftly, a deputy boarded the vessel and applied a tourniquet to stop the bleeding,” the sheriff’s office said on Facebook. The man was then airlifted to a nearby hospital, where he remains in critical condition but is expected to recover.

READ MORE: Horror images of 'shark bite' wounds after four savaged as urgent warning issued

Nassau County, Florida, is located about 150 miles north of Volusia County, known as the “shark bite capital of the world,” with 17 bites reported in 2021, according to the Florida Museum of Natural History’s International Shark Attack File.

Last year, Florida accounted for 16 shark attacks, making up 44 per cent of all attacks in the United States.

Around the same time 14-year-old boy was bitten on the leg by a shark while swimming in waist-deep water at a beach in North Carolina.

Blayne Brown was bit on the leg and ankle by a shark at Topsail Beach Access No. 4 in Pender County, North Carolina. It's reported that the teenager was swimming in waist-deep water in the early afternoon with a friend when the incident occurred.

According to The Herald-Dispatch, Blayne was roughly 30 to 40 feet away from the shore, and beachgoers helped provide medical attention to the teen before first responders arrived and took him to Naval Medical Center Camp Lejeune. Blayne said: "I didn't know what it was. I just felt something that hurt a lot."

The teenager had to undergo surgery - with a specialist brought in to deal with the extensive injuries. Brown returned home to West Virginia on Tuesday, though his mother said he may need another surgery.

It comes as the Associated Press reported that there were 69 unprovoked shark bites worldwide last year. Ten of those incidents were fatal, according to the International Shark Attack File . That was higher than the recent average of six deaths per year. Last year, it was reported that a woman was tragically killed just one day after her wedding after being mauled to death in a shocking shark attack while paddle-boarding in The Bahamas .

The Royal Bahamas Police Force confirmed witnesses said the 44-year-old Boston woman had just got married and was attacked while in the ocean with her family. She was brutalized in waters that were fewer than one mile off the western end of New Providence Island.

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