19-year-old surfer recovering in hospital after shark bite at Ocean Isle Beach
BRUNSWICK COUNTY, N.C. (WTVD) -- A 19-year-old surfer was injured by a shark bite at Ocean Isle Beach on Monday.
The shark bit Austin Reed on his right foot around 2 p.m. and he was taken to New Hanover Hospital in Wilmington for surgery.
Thankfully, Monday evening, Reed was seen smiling in his hospital bed.
"They closed up about 25 centimeters of cuts on his foot and he anticipates he'll have a full recovery," Austin's father, Wayne Reed, told ABC11.
ABC11 has learned that Reed was surfing with his brothers and some close friends when the attack happened.
"I think the shark grabbed him and when he pulled his foot and when he pulled it out, it looked like a knife had cut it across the left and right side of his foot," explained Wayne.
Austin's brother Ethan initially thought he was joking around when the attack happened.
"He said 'Yo, I got bit by a shark!' And Austin is one to goof around a lot--so Tyler thought he was just kidding. And he looked at his foot and realized he wasn't, so they got on Tyler's board and he brought him in," said Ethan Reed.
Monday's shark attack wasn't the first shark attack in NC this month, either.
On June 2, a 17-year-old had to have her leg amputated following a shark attack.
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