A horrified uncle has described finding his nephew ‘without a head’ after the boy was decapitated by a tiger shark off Jamaica.
Jahmari Reid, 16, had gone spearfishing by himself near the popular tourist town of Montego Bay on Monday when he vanished, according to local police.
The high school student’s mauled body was recovered by his horrified uncle and other divers who volunteered for the search on Tuesday morning.
The boy’s body was reportedly found with his head and left arm bitten off.
‘When we [found] him, his hand [was on] one side and then we [found] his body [on the other side] without a head,’ Jahmari’s mourning uncle, Robert Robinson, who has been a local fisherman for nearly 28 years, told the Jamaica Observer.
He added to the Jamaica Star he ‘found the body all bitten up by the shark.’
Jahmari Reid, 16, had gone spearfishing near the popular tourist town of Montego Bay
Locals in the town of Falmouth gathered on the beach as the body was recovered
Jahmari’s heartbroken father, Michael Reid (right), was on the beach when his son’s remains were brought back to land
Robert said that when Jahmari’s body was taken to the surface, the massive tiger shark he believes to have killed his nephew swam by. Him and the other divers shot at the shark, hoping to kill it and recover Jahmari’s head, but they missed.
The fisherman thinks that Jahmari died after catching a big fish and thereby attracting the shark’s attention, who reportedly went on to decapitate the 16-year-old.
Pictures from the scene showed scores of horrified locals gathering at the beach in the town of Falmouth on the island’s northern coast.
Jahmari’s heartbroken father, Michael Reid, was on the beach when his son’s remains were brought back to land.
‘I can’t believe that he went to sea by himself yesterday [Monday] and that was the outcome. Sad to know. I feel so bad,’ he told Jamaican media.
The taxi driver said he had often tried to discourage his son from his spearfishing hobby, and that they often argued about him going out.
Jahmari’s mother, Lavern Robinson, said under tears: ‘Right now I don’t know what to say. Jahmari has been going to sea from small. [He] just love it and [he] always goes out with [his] uncle. [He] was in grade 10 getting ready to go to grade 11.’
The head of a local fisherman’s association said that this was the first time in recent history that someone had been killed by a shark in local waters.
The high school student is pictured with his father, taxi driver Michael Reid
The attack happened off the beach in the north coast town of Falmouth
Fritz Christie suggested that the shark might have followed a cruise ship into Falmouth bay, and warned spearfishers to exercise extreme caution when large vessels come in.
‘What we have to do is make certain when the ships come to be careful of the diving. The shark eat off the man head, eat off one of his hand. It’s crazy, man,’ Christie said.
Falmouth police are reported to be investigating the tragedy.
Shark attacks are extremely rare in Jamaica, with only three unprovoked attacks reported since 1749, according to the the International Shark Attack File.
The most common shark in Jamaica is a nurse shark, which is docile and usually stays near the seabed.
Caribbean reef sharks, tiger sharks, hammerheads, and bull sharks have also been seen in Jamaican waters.
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