Boy, 16, 'decapitated' in horror shark attack while fishing off Jamaica coast

A teenage boy has been decapitated in a horror shark attack while fishing off the coast of Jamaica .

The boy - named as 16-year-old Jahmari Reid - had reportedly gone spearfishing at a beach near the town of Falmouth in north Jamaica on Monday, when he went missing after entering the water alone.

His body was found the following day, with his head and leg missing. He is believed to have been attacked by a shark.

His father, taxi driver Michael Reid, told local news outlet Jamaica Observer on Tuesday: “I can't believe that he went to sea by himself yesterday and that was the outcome. Sad to know. I feel so bad.”

He said he had frequently tried to discourage his son from spearfishing.

“It is something that we argue about, we fight about,” he said. “He’s not doing it for a worthy cause, he’s not doing it for needs or anything. It is what it is still. Can you believe it?”

Fisherman Christopher Reynolds said the teen’s body and a dismembered arm were discovered in the water on Tuesday morning by divers who had been searching for him.

He told Jamaica Observer the divers had reportedly also seen a large tiger shark in the water.

“All of the fisherman went out there and, while they were diving to take him up, they saw the big shark. They shot at him but they didn’t get him,” Mr Reynolds said.

Shark attacks are understood to be rare in Jamaica. Since 1749, just three unprovoked shark attacks have been reported there, according to the Florida Museum of Natural History and the American Elasmobranch Society.

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