Nine-Year-Old Girl Bitten By Shark Off New Smyrna Beach

NEW SMYRNA BEACH (CBSMiami/CNN) - A nine-year-old girl was bitten by a shark at New Smyrna Beach.

The girl was wading in the water Friday when she was bitten on the lower right leg.

"I didn't see it and I didn't know it was a shark," said Maggie Crum.

But it was indeed a shark that bit Crum in the right leg causing lacerations with teeth marks that took a dozen stitches to close.

"I knew it was like a bite but I didn't know what it was. I knew it wasn't a jellyfish or something like that because it hurt too bad," she said.

Maggie, her sisters, and their parents were playing in the water just south of 27th Avenue a few minutes before 11 a.m. Maggie's sister Jaidyn and their mom were both stung by jellyfish the day before so Jaidyn thought maggie was being dramatic.

"She screamed and we said stop faking and then she came up to me and pulled my leg and I knew that was like real," she said.

Volusia County, particularly New Smyrna Beach records the most shark bites worldwide. They typically happen near the jetty where sharks track the abundance of baitfish and where surfers ride the best waves.

"I was like that can't happen to me. Like that's not going to happen because it's really like, that's not going to happen, but apparently, I was wrong," said Crum.

Based on the injury, doctors estimate the shark was three to four feet in length. All the sisters got a teddy bear following the hospital visit, Maggie named hers Sharkey. While she probably can't get back in the water while the family is in town because of the stitches, Maggie said she'll go back.

"I'm pretty sure if it happens once then there's like zero percent chance it will happen again. I'm not really scared about it," she said.