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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
World
Steven White

Shocking moment shark bites off man's 'pinkie' finger while child watches on

A man had his small finger ripped off by a shark as tried to free a hook from the predator over the side of boat.

The terrifying incident off the coast of Florida in July was captured on camera including a young boy watching the horror unfold.

Brett Reeder was on a fishing expedition with his family a few miles south of Miami in Content Keys when he caught a shark while on a small boat.

In the video that went viral on social media, he leans over the craft and seems to tussle with the big fish while trying to undo a hook stuck in its fin.

The terrifying moment Brett Reeder has his finger bitten off by a shark as a boy watches on (reedermandyy/TikTok)

A child, possibly his son, is in the foreground watching while dangling his leg in the water and asking the animal not "bite our boat".

The shark suddenly appears agitated and moves away slightly from Brett before turning back and snapping on to his hand.

It then thrashes and twists around a few times with blood clearly seen all around the underside of its white jaw.

Brett was on a family fishing trip when the awful incident happened as he tried to free the shark from a hook (reedermandyy/TikTok)

Brett manages to pull his hand away and can be heard shouting: "Damnit! F**k! It got my God damn pinky! F**k!” before the filming stops.

Despite the ordeal Brett appears relatively calm considering what had just happened.

The fisherman's wife Mandy shared the unbelievable clip on her TikTok account.

Bekah Kashtan was reportedly on the boat with the family and left a comment underneath the post saying: "So glad my mum and I were there to help with the quick medical attention and how Mandy stayed so calm for the kids, reports The Daily Star.

Brett has to drive 25 minutes back to shore himself while his wife calmed their children down (reedermandyy/TikTok)

In a follow up video, Brett said he was airlifted to a hospital - but not before he had to drive the boat 25 minutes back to shore himself.

He added about the unfortunate incident: “I tried to get a hold of him to get my hook back and got unlucky when he spun around caught the top of my hand, and got my pinky and started twisting."

The fisherman was airlifted to hospital for surgery (reedermandyy/TikTok)

“I got really lucky that I had my cousin with us that got a tourniquet on my arm."

Florida is no stranger to shark encounters and its New Smyrna Beach is labelled the 'shark attack capital of the world' due to the high frequency of them in the area.

Last year 17 shark bites were recorded off the beach and it is believed people are 10 times more likely to be attacked by one there than anywhere else in the world.

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