911 call captures tourist’s shark bite on Hollywood Beach
A new 911 call uncovers the tense moments after a man was bitten by a shark at a Broward beach ealier this week.
“We are right behind the Tides Hotel ... I don’t know the address. I’m a tourist,” an agitated man is heard telling emergency dispatchers. “He was swimming in the ocean, and I was not really paying attention to him, but I think he got eaten by a little fish or a little shark.”
Hollywood Fire Rescue, along with Hallandale Beach Ocean Rescue, rushed to treat the man’s injuries at the 4100 block of Ocean Drive around 2:50 p.m. The shark bit his upper right arm, leaving the swimmer, in his 40s, with “significant lacerations,” according to the Hollywood agency’s spokesperson, Chai Kauffman. What caused the shark to attack is still unclear.
After crews applied a tourniquet, the man was airlifted to Memorial Regional Hospital for treatment, where he underwent surgery and is reportedly stable and well.
Kauffman, who spoke with the man, shared that he and his family were visiting Hollywood from Canada. He told the spokeswoman that he saw a fish jump over his head followed by a large splash while swimming in chest-deep water with a friend. When he realized he’d been hurt, he made his way back to shore, where beachgoers rushed to help him.
Hollywood Fire Rescue said the man wishes to remain anonymous and “asks that his privacy be respected as he continues to recover,” in a statement released by the agency Wednesday.
