Family holiday horror as sharks ‘tear chunks’ out of boy aged 8
A TANTALISING offer to swim with sharks turned into a terrifying ordeal for an eight-year-old British boy during a family holiday.
Finley Downer was bitten by at least three sharks in what was ‘like a scene from Jaws’, his father Michael said.
Mr Downer flew to the Bahamas with children Finley, Lily, nine, and Emily, 12, for a five-island trip that included feeding iguanas and swimming with its famous pigs. Tour operator Exuma Escapes’ website also offers guests the chance to swim with sharks ‘if you dare’. During an excursion to Compass Cay, Mr Downer, 44, said they saw nurse sharks swimming among a crowd of people in a neighbouring lagoon.
The children joined them, unaware the fish were feeding on scraps thrown to them. The sales director, from Kettering, Northamptonshire, told The Sun: ‘My son could have been killed. I heard a terrified scream and saw dozens [of sharks] circling Finley. There was so much blood. Bits of his leg were hanging off. He kept saying, “Dad, I don’t want to die”.’
Finley was dragged to safety by Lily and a nurse was among tourists who helped stem his bleeding. Mr Downer paid £2,000 to fly him to the capital, Nassau, for surgery.
The family are now back home but Finley is using a wheelchair and will be scarred. Mr Downer said guides told the group the sharks were safe. But Nassau-based Exuma Escapes said the family went, without a guide, into a lagoon not used on its tour.
Nurse sharks are bottom feeders, growing up to 9ft long and weighing up to 230lb. Exuma said they are normally docile.
Finley’s mother, Kerry Downer, who is divorced from his father, phoned her son before his surgery: ‘He was saying, “Mummy, I’m scared”. It was heart breaking,’ she said. But she praised Mr Downer’s handling of the ‘freak accident’, adding: ‘He is an amazing dad and he coped very well.’