Father rescues daughter after she was bitten by shark at NC’s Bald Head Island

A shark attacked a girl swimming off Bald Head Island Sunday, biting her on her right calf, according to the Brunswick County Sheriff’s Office.

The Bald Head Island Department of Public Safety identified the victim as a juvenile and declined to release her name and age. The wound was not life threatening, Bald Head officials said.

A police report released by the sheriff’s office states the incident occurred about 10:30 a.m. Sunday and that the female was out of the water on a sandbar when she was first heard screaming.

Her father took her from the sandbar to the beach using a surf board, the report said, and a surfing instructor who was nearby witnessed the scene and called 911.

The bite occurred off a beach on the east side of the island. Bald Head Island is off North Carolina’s southeast coast, near the South Carolina state line.

The victim was taken to New Hanover Regional Medical Center in Wilmington, according to the Sheriff’s Office report.

A statement sent out by Bald Head Island Department of Public Safety said the victim was “bitten by something believed to be a juvenile shark.”

The U.S. Coast Guard had not posted information of a shark bite early Monday.

Bald Head Island is a 12,000-acre island known for hosting a large maritime forest and the state’s oldest surviving light house, built in 1817. The island’s rental homes are accessible only by passenger ferry and cars are not permitted. (Golf carts are the chief form of transportation.)

The Florida Museum of Natural History reports there were 33 shark bites in North Carolina between 2007 and 2016. Last year, only one unprovoked attack was reported in the state, the museum says.

This story was originally published August 6, 2018 at 11:39 AM with the headline "Father rescues daughter after she was bitten by shark at NC’s Bald Head Island."