Finley Downer, from Kettering, Northamptonshire, had to be pulled from the water by his sister Lilly and rushed to hospital with deep cuts to his legs. His family was on a five-island tour package that included a guided swim with iguanas, porpoises and sharks at Compass Cay. His father Michael, 44, told the Sun: “My son could have been killed. It was like a scene out of Jaws.” He said he and his family had seen sharks swimming among a crowd of people in a lagoon. His children, Finley, 8, Lily, 9, and Emily, 12, decided to go in and play with the animals, unaware that the sharks were being fed at the time. Nurse sharks “circled Finley” and bit off both of his legs (AFP via Getty Images) Mr Downer continued: “Suddenly I heard a startled scream and saw dozens circling Finley. There was so much blood. Pieces of his leg were hanging off. He kept saying, “Dad I don’t want to die. Dad I don’t want to go to heaven.” The tour operator, Exuma Escapes, said the family had gone without a tour guide and visited a lagoon that was not on the tour. Finley was pulled from the water by his sister and taken to a nearby medical clinic in a golf cart. His father then had to pay for a £2,000 flight to Nassau so his son could travel to a hospital for surgery. The eight-year-old still uses a wheelchair after the attack and will likely be permanently scarred. At full size, feeder sharks can reach 7.5 to 9.5 feet and weigh 200–330 pounds (91–136 kg). They are slow-moving inhabitants of the bottom and are usually harmless to humans. However, they have very strong jaws filled with thousands of tiny teeth and will bite defensively if stepped on or disturbed by divers.
