Cancun, Q.R. — A 10 year old Colorado boy is finally recovering at home after being bitten by a shark while vacationing in Cancun. The incident happened on a Cancun Hotel Zone beach March 17.
The family of three were on the beach when the two boys waded out into knee-deep water. The shark was brought close to shore on a large wave where he bit the left leg of the youngest boy.
Dillon “A”, 10, was rushed to Cancun hospital from where he was stabilized and eventually flown back to the U.S. with his mother Abby and older brother where he has since undergone surgery from what his mother said were “extensive injuries”.
Abby told U.S. media that the boys wanted to swim and jump into the waves, and within five minutes of them being in the water, the shark arrived on a large wave and bit her youngest son.
A fellow beachgoer, along with Dillon’s older brother and an on-duty Cancun lifeguard, ran to get him out of the water. He spent four days in Cancun hospital before being airlifted to a children’s hospital in his home state of Colorado.
His mother says he underwent four surgeries to repair two broken bones along with nerve damage severed tendons and a severed meniscus. He has since returned home where he will undergo physical therapy.
“He’s done fantastic considering all that he’s been through,” his mother told U.S. media. The incident happened on the family’s last day of vacation in Cancun.
According to Florida Museum’s Yearly Worldwide Shark Attack Summary, in 2022, there were 108 shark-human interactions of which 57 were confirmed as unprovoked shark bites.
Dutch Shark Society reports a total of 40 shark bite attacks in all of Mexico in more than a century, 10 of which have been recorded in Cancun with the last one being in 2013. According to the organization, “shark attacks in Cancun are extremely rare”.
