Officials say a Canadian boy was bitten by a shark while vacationing with his family at a Florida beach.

Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue officials told news outlets that 12-year-old Christian Mariani was found Wednesday bleeding with puncture wounds. Fire Rescue Battalion Chief Battalion Chief Stephen Gollan says he was taken in stable condition to a local hospital.

NBC Miami reports that Mariani, is from Hamilton and was visiting South Florida with his dad and brother.

"That is the scariest feeling that I think I have ever experienced in my life," Mariani told NBC. He said "I feel more lucky than unlucky. I know that it's a very low chance to get bit by a shark but to be in the condition I am right now, that is also very lucky."

Gollan said lifeguards were doing routine physical training when they heard a loud scream coming from the ocean across from The Ritz-Carlton in Fort Lauderdale.

Mariani was taken to Broward Health Medical Centre in Fort Lauderdale.

"My friend, here, was very lucky," Dr. Francis Amador said in a Facebook post to the Broward Health page. The post says that Mariani received "17 stitches in his right foot before he was released to his family."