Updated

An 11-year-old Florida boy is recovering Monday after being severely bitten by a shark while wading in waist-deep waters at a popular beach.

The boy – who was not identified – was bitten at Lori Wilson Park in Cocoa Beach Sunday on Florida’s eastern coast, WOFL reports.

"There was blood in the water," Eisen Witcher, assistant chief of the Brevard County Ocean Rescue, told Florida Today, describing a large laceration on the boy’s lower right calf. "It's severe. We wrapped it up as fast as we could."

The boy was airlifted to a nearby hospital for treatment. Lifeguards kept beachgoers out of the water for an hour after the incident as a precaution.

One Brevard County lifeguard told WOFL that the bite was one of the worst they had ever seen in the area.

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