Girl, 9, is bitten by shark at Florida beach dubbed the ‘shark bite capital of the world’ 

Girl, 9, is savaged by shark while wading in knee-deep water in tenth attack this year at Florida beach dubbed the ‘shark bite capital of the world’

  • Maggie Crum, nine, was bitten by a shark while knee deep in water at New Smyrna Beach, Florida
  •  The Crum family, originally from Ohio, was on vacation when the shark attack occurred on August 16
  • Maggie’s family initially thought she was faking the injury, but took her to the hospital after seeing the blood 
  • The fourth grader received 12 stitches on her right leg
  • Maggie is the tenth person bitten at the beach and the fifth in the last month
  • The beach is called the ‘shark bite capital of the world’, and Florida has more attacks than any other state
  • The Crum family originally planned to visit a beach in North Carolina instead of Florida, but chose the Sunshine State after the hotel they were set to stay in burned down

A nine-year-old girl has become the tenth person to undergo a shark attack while at a Florida beach dubbed ‘the shark bite capital of the world.’  

Maggie Crum and her family were visiting New Smyrna Beach from Ohio on Saturday, August 16 when the scary moment occurred.    

Maggie was playing with her sisters in knee deep water when she felt something bump her leg. 

That’s when a shark took a bite out of Maggie.  

A 9-year-old girl was bitten in an apparent shark attack at a Florida beach on Friday, officials said. More here: gma.abc/2TFVF6u

Posted by Good Morning America on Sunday, 18 August 2019

Maggie Crum (pictured) is the tenth person to be bitten by a shark at New Smyrna Beach in Florida, also known as the ‘shark bite capital of the world’

‘I saw the sand swirl. I didn’t know what it was. I thought it was kind of like a big fish,’ Maggie told Good Morning America. 

Maggie told the Today Show, ‘It felt like a grab at first and then it just ripped into the skin, and that’s when it hurt and felt like a bite.’  

Maggie reportedly let out a scream, but her family thought she was faking it. 

Aimee Breiding, Maggie’s mother, told the Today Show,’ She lifted her leg out of the water, and I saw blood running down her leg. I was like, ‘Let’s get out of the water!’ 

Maggie was knee deep in the ocean on Saturday, August 16, when she felt something bump her leg

Maggie was knee deep in the ocean on Saturday, August 16, when she felt something bump her leg 

Maggie (left) was taken to a local hospital where she received 12 stitches from the shark bite

Maggie (left) was taken to a local hospital where she received 12 stitches from the shark bite

Breiding, who is a firefighter and paramedic, recognized the wounds immediately.

‘With as big of cuts as was in the back of her leg, we knew right away it was a shark,’ she said. 

Maggie was taken to a local hospital where she received 12 stitches. 

The Crum family didn’t learn of New Smyrna Beach’s infamous reputation until after they arrived to the beach town.

Aimee Breiding, Maggie’s mother, told the Today Show,’ We didn’t tell the girls in an effort to keep them going into the water. And we talked about it, and we said there’s no sharks that shallow. There’s nothing to worry about.’

The Shark Attack File reports that Florida had more shark attacks than any other state last year

The Shark Attack File reports that Florida had more shark attacks than any other state last year

Despite the ordeal, Maggie is optimistic and won’t let a shark bite slow her down. 

She plans on returning to the water, telling the Today Show, ‘what are the odds that you’re going to be bit twice?’

 WESH 2 reported that the shark was estimated around three to four feet long based on the injury. 

The Crum family initially planned on vacationing at a beach in North Carolina, but chose to come to Florida after the hotel they were supposed to stay in burned down. 

Maggie is the tenth person bitten by a shark at New Smyrna Beach and the fifth person in Florida in the last month.

Recently, three people survived shark attacks and a dad captured drone footage of a shark wading near his children at this Florida beach. 

According to the Florida Museum of Natural History’s International Shark Attack File, Florida leads the country in shark attacks last year and 24% of all the unprovoked attacks in the world.  



Read more at DailyMail.co.uk