Man was swimming from boat when shark bit near Key West, Coast Guard says

A man was swimming from a recreational boat off Boca Chica Key, near Key West, when a shark bit him on the lower leg late Sunday afternoon, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

Read more Man was swimming from boat when shark bit near Key West, Coast Guard says

The Coast Guard was alerted to the attack around 5 p.m. and met with a civilian boat that took the man aboard. Boca Grande Key, part of the Key West National Wildlife Refuge., is an uninhabited island about 14 miles west of Key West. .

The Coast Guard credits several nurses on the Boca Grande beach with giving initial care to the man’s leg.

A Coast Guard small boat crew escorted the civilian boat to Station Key West, where awaiting paramedics took him to Lower Keys Medical Center.

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From there, Monroe County’s Trauma Star helicopter air ambulance flew the 43-year-old man to Jackson South Medical Center in Miami-Dade County, said Kristen Livengood, spokeswoman for Monroe’s Fire Rescue department.

Livengood said the man, who has not been named, was in stable condition during the flight.

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Authorities have not said the type of shark believed to have bitten the man.