British boy, eight, savaged by sharks on family holiday 'like a scene out of jaws'
8 August 2022, 09:31 | Updated: 8 August 2022, 10:25
A British schoolboy was savaged by at least three sharks on a family holiday in the Bahamas
Finley Downer, eight, was left with "chunks of flesh hanging off" both his legs after the horrific attack on an excursion to Compass Cay last week.
The terrified youngster had to be dragged to safety by his 12-year-old sister during the £200 per person trip.
Finley's father, Michael, 44, had booked the luxurious summer holiday with his three children, Finley, Lily, nine, and Emily, 12, alongside the five-island excursion that also included guided swimming with pigs and iguanas.
Mr Downer said his children saw a shiver of sharks swimming in a nearby lagoon later in the trip next to a crowd of holidaymakers and went over - unaware they were feeding on scraps being thrown to them.
Mr Downer told The Sun: "Suddenly, I heard a terrified scream and saw dozens circling Finley.
"There was so much blood. Bits of his leg were hanging off. My son could have been killed. It was like a scene out of Jaws.
"He kept saying, ‘Dad I don’t want to die. Dad I don’t want to go to heaven’.”
The youngster was luckily lifted out of the water by his quick-thinking sister Lily and was taken to the nearest hospital on a golf buggy.
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Later his dad paid for a £2,000 flight to take him to Nassau for a three-hour operation to repair his wounds.
The family is now back home in Kettering, Northants, but Finley is still using a wheelchair and will be left scarred. Michael is angry that tour guides told them the sharks were safe.
But the operator, Exuma Escapes, said the family went, without a guide, into a lagoon not used on its tour.
It added nurse sharks were docile bottom-feeders unless handled incorrectly.
Their website says that the nurse sharks at Compass Cay "were initially brought as pets, however, after gaining popularity through tourism, the Compass Cay Marina has turned the environment into a sanctuary."
It added: "The sharks are smooth to the touch as they swim up and rub against your legs. They have a brown tone and usually don’t mind closeness to other sharks and humans."
