A FUN family getaway to the Texas coast turned into an 8-year-old girl’s worst nightmare when she was attacked in the surf.
Harper Ochoa was splashing in shallow water on a beach vacation over Labor Day weekend when something clamped down on her leg.
Harper Ochoa, 8, was playing in shallow waters at Galveston Beach before being attacked[/caption]
The shark took a huge chunk of Harper’s flesh below the calf[/caption]
Originally, the family thought it might have been a stingray that mauled her at the beach in Galveston, Texas.
Harper screamed and alerted a family member, who helped her out of the water.
Then they noticed a huge chunk of her leg below the calf was gone.
“It was just so much blood it was hard to tell what was going on,” Harper’s mom, Christa Ochoa, told CBS affiliate KWTX.
“Then, when they were able to kind of get it to stop bleeding, the doctor was able to confirm that it looked like something from a shark.”
Harper received 13 staples to close the wound.
Despite what she endured, she asked if she could return to the beach the next day.
A few days after the attack, Harper was sent back to the hospital after her wound became infected.
She was administered antibiotics and will stay in the hospital for a few days, KWTX reported.
Doctors confirmed that Ochoa will not face any long-term damage, and they are hoping she will make a quick recovery.
LAST YEAR’S ATTACK
Shark attacks in Galveston are uncommon, but not impossible.
“It’s really rare,” Galveston Beach Patrol Chief Peter Davis told People.
“I’ve worked a few of them in my career, and the ones I’ve seen were shark bites, not attacks, meaning it was a case of mistaken identity where they latched onto a human and swam away.”
In May 2024, Oklahoma teen Damiana Humphrey was in waist-deep waters off Galveston when a shark latched onto her hand.
She instinctively punched the shark, which eventually released her.
Damiana was rushed to the hospital, where doctors found four severed tendons in her hand and performed surgery.
She made a full recovery with physical therapy.
Harper being buried in the sand on a beach in Galveston, Texas, during her family vacation[/caption]
Ochoa returned to the hospital she was left with an infection on her shark bite[/caption]
RECENT ATTACKS
Harper’s terrifying brush with death is the latest in this summer’s series of encounters with the terrifying beasts.
Another attack over Labor Day weekend targeted an 8-year-old boy who was snorkeling near Horseshoe Reef in Key Largo, Florida.
He sustained serious leg injuries, prompting emergency responders to apply two tourniquets before he was airlifted to a trauma center.
The boy is now recovering after being rushed into surgery due to severe blood loss.
Safety Tips to Stay Shark-Savvy on Galveston Beaches
- Avoid schools of fish as it is a common shark food spot, steer clear if you spot them.
- Don’t enter the water if you’re bleeding, even minor cuts can attract sharks.
- Avoid peak feeding times, limit swimming near dawn, dusk, and at night.
- Do not swim where fishing is happening, these areas can draw sharks.
- Swim in groups, not alone, sharks are less likely to approach groups.
- Leave shiny jewelry and high-contrast swimwear behind, avoid reflecting light as it could mimic fish scales.
In May, another snorkeler was left with a “barracuda-sized bite” after coming face-to-face with a shark in Florida waters.
Earlier this summer, 9-year-old Leah Lendel was nearly killed in Florida when a shark ripped her hand almost completely off while she snorkeled with family.
The little girl miraculously regained movement in her fingers after a six-hour surgery.
Another shark attack victim, spear fisher Chance Armand, took a disturbing picture after he was mauled by a bull shark off Pensacola Pass, near the Gulf of Mexico.
He managed to wedge his knee between himself and the shark, and later escaped with only a giant, gnarly flesh wound.
