A 12-year-old boy from the United States is recovering in stable condition after a shark attack in the Bahamas, officials said Wednesday.
The child had been touring the Exuma Cays with his family when the attack happened, according to a statement from the Royal Bahamas Police Force. Police said he was swimming near Staniel Cay with his brother when a shark bit him at about 3:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Authorities did not detail the extent of the boy’s injuries. The RBPF said he was taken by boat to New Providence, the Bahamas’ most populated island and the location of the capital, Nassau, where he received medical care. As of Wednesday, police said, he remained in stable condition.
The Exuma Cays are a well-known destination for swimming, snorkeling and scuba diving. Waters around Staniel Cay feature coral reefs and shipwrecks and support a variety of marine life, including sea turtles, stingrays and sharks. Police did not identify the species of shark involved in the attack.
The Bahamas, an archipelago of more than 700 islands, ranks among the places with the highest numbers of unprovoked shark attacks worldwide. Despite its relatively small size, the country has the ninth-highest total of such incidents, according to the International Shark Attack File, which monitors human-shark encounters globally. Still, these incidents remain exceedingly uncommon: The database shows just 30 confirmed, unprovoked shark attacks in the Bahamas across the last four centuries.
Several Americans have been hurt in shark attacks in Bahamian waters in recent years. In February 2025, two American women were attacked while swimming off Bimini Bay, at the western edge of the Bahamas. One of the women suffered serious injuries.
Months later, in August 2025, a 63-year-old American man was severely injured in a shark attack while spearfishing near Abaco. He was later flown to the United States for further medical treatment.
In January 2024, a 10-year-old boy from Maryland was hospitalized after a shark bit him on the leg. In another fatal incident, a Boston woman died after being attacked by a shark while paddleboarding with a relative in December 2023.
