Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Sunday Morning

Florida Eight-Year-Old in Critical Condition After Shark Attack

Aired July 08, 2001 - 08:28   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: An eight-year-old boy is in critical condition after a vicious shark attack off the coast of Florida. The boy's arm was severed in the attack, but it has been reattached following a relative's heroic effort to recover the limb. We get more on this story from Molly Barrows of CNN affiliate WEAR.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MOLLY BARROWS, WEAR CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With four bullets in its head, this seven foot bull shark was still breathing an hour after it was shot. The animal attacked an eight-year-old Ocean Springs, Mississippi boy shortly after dusk, ripping into his thigh and amputating his right arm just below the elbow. But the shark didn't get away.

J.R. TOMASOVIC, CHIEF RANGER: The boy's uncle went into the water and somehow wrestled the shark up onto the beach.

BARROWS: His aunt performed CPR until help arrived. Park rangers were the first on scene.

TONY THOMAS, PARK SERVICE LIFEGUARD: We could see that the arm was in the shark's mouth and so he, everybody backed up and the shark, the park ranger brought out his pistol and shot the shark.

BARROWS: The child was airlifted to the hospital. The cut was clean and emergency crews rushed the boy's arm to the hospital by ambulance with hopes of reattaching it. Along the way, an Escambia sheriff's deputy escorting the vehicle rear-ended another motorist. But the ambulance made it through. Now the crews who saved the child's arm want to keep those jaws as a reminder.

(on camera): Rescue crews propped the shark's mouth open with a baton in order to retrieve the boy's arm. This animal weighs at least 250 pounds. The boy's uncle wrestled it onto shore from more than 15 yards out in the water. If it would have gotten away, it would have escaped with the boy's arm.

(voice-over): Crews say the child's uncle is the real hero. Doctors reattached his arm after 11 hours of surgery. This is the second shark attack in two years along Fort Pickens Beach. Lifeguard Tony Thomas saw both and hopes he never sees another. THOMAS: A disbelief. It's like something out of a movie. You just really don't believe what you see and it's so surreal. Just, it's hard to comprehend.

BARROWS: Reporting in Pensecola, I'm Molly Barrows.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com