North Carolina boy, 13, bitten by shark at South Carolina island

FILE - In this Thursday, Aug. 11, 2016, file photo, the fin of a great white shark is seen swimming a past research boat in the waters off Gansbaai, South Africa. Olympic champion Michael Phelps lost to a simulated shark in the Discovery Channel’s Shark Week special “Phelps vs. Shark: Great Gold vs. Great White,” which aired July 23, 2017. (AP Photo/Schalk van Zuydam, File) (Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistribu)

A 13-year-old North Carolina boy suffered a shark bite on South Carolina's Hilton Head Island last week, the Island Packet reports.

Linton Suttle was swimming Thursday near Sea Pines Beach Club when he felt a sharp pain in his foot, he told the newspaper.

"I thought maybe it was a seashell, but as I turned around to look I saw a shadow swim away and I knew I had just got bit by a shark," he said. "My first thought was that I wanted to get my sister out of the water."

His parents used photos of comparable bites and an exchange with shark researchers to confirm it was a shark bite.

The family received an email from George Burgess, director of the Florida Program for Shark Research, confirming the bite was from a shark.

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The boy escaped without major injuries but has to use crutches and stay out of the ocean, according to the report.

The newspaper reported that Linton is the fourth shark bite victim on Hilton Head this summer, with none of the bites being life-threatening.

"Half of an inch to the left and he might have lost a toe," Linton's mother, Kristy Suttle, told the Island Packet. "I am grateful it didn't do more damage."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.