By JADE RUSSELL

Tribune Staff Reporter

jrussell@tribunemedia.net

A VISIT to The Bahamas became a nightmare on Tuesday for a tourist who was bitten by a shark at Highbourne Cay in the Exumas, leaving him seriously injured and hospitalised in an incident authorities did not disclose until after The Tribune reported it yesterday.

Police confirmed last night that on Tuesday a Caucasian man was riding an efoil water toy in the basin when he was bitten on his right leg by a shark.

Police said the man was airlifted to New Providence for further medical attention, but Dr Duane Sands, one of the medical professionals who operated on the victim, said he was transported by a speed boat.

The shark attack came just days after two women were bitten by a shark in Bimini Bay last week.

Dr Sands said the victim sustained serious injuries, and doctors operated on him immediately.

“Fortunately, he is recovering well,” he said. “He is awake and alert. We are optimistic for a full recovery.”

Dr Sands believes the reoccurrence of shark attacks needs to be examined and addressed.

He questioned whether chumming –– releasing bait into the ocean to attract fish –– near places people swim contributes to shark attacks.

On February 7, two American tourists were attacked by a shark while swimming in Bimini Bay.

They recounted their harrowing experience on ABC’s Good Morning America.

Rileigh Decker, 20, who suffered severe injuries, said: “I kind of felt something nudge my leg, and I looked at her, and I was like, what was that? And we kept swimming. Then I felt a tug on my leg, and I knew right then and there that I was bit.”

Her friend, Summer Layman, 24, was also bitten but didn’t immediately realise it. 

“I didn’t realise that I got bit until they started screaming that my foot was, like, shredded,” she said.

In December 2023, former Bahamas Hotel and Tourism Association (BHTA) president Robert Sands said the association would establish a task force to examine watersports and beach activity concerns.

His comment came after a shark killed an American woman and weeks after a Blue Lagoon Island vessel teetered, resulting in the death of another American woman. The conclusions of the task force remain unclear.