Boy Dies After Shark Attack in Virginia

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (Reuters) - A 10-year old boy died early Sunday from injuries suffered after he was bitten by a shark at a Virginia beach, becoming the first person to die of a shark attack this year in the United States, a hospital spokesman said.

David Peltier, of Richmond, died at about 3:45 a.m. EDT, at Children's Hospital of the King's Daughters in Virginia Beach, where he was transferred late Saturday as emergency workers fought to save his life.

``As a result of the attack, the main artery in his left thigh was severed, resulting in significant blood loss,'' hospital spokesman George Stinnett said.

According to news reports, Peltier was bitten as he was swimming with his father and two brothers at Sandbridge Beach, south of Virginia Beach.

The attack, coming on the U.S. Labor Day holiday weekend marking the unofficial end of summer, was the latest in a spate of highly publicized shark attacks this year.

Eight-year-old Jessie Arbogast survived after a shark tore off his arm as he swam off Pensacola, Florida, in July. Prompt medical attention on the beach was credited with saving his life and his severed arm was reattached in surgery, although he remains in guarded condition.

Wall Street investor Krishna Thompson was bitten a few weeks later while on holiday in the Bahamas. Surgeons had to amputate his badly mauled leg.

The International Shark Attack File at the University of Florida said only one death from a shark attack, in Brazil, had been reported so far this year, compared to an average of eight per year in recent years.

As of last week, 48 attacks had been reported worldwide, with 37 of those reported in the United States and 28 of those in Florida. That compares to 84 recorded worldwide last year, including 53 in the United States and 37 of those in Florida.

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