In what officials said was the first shark attack of the season at Neptune Beach, the 13-year-old boy and his stepfather were swimming when the child was bitten about 3 p.m. Sunday.
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And authorities in Newport Beach, California, continue their search for a shark that attacked a woman, forcing them to close the beach. The increase, Burgess said, is due to shark populations slowly recovering from historic lows in the 1990s, the world’s growing human population and rising temperatures that lead more people to go swimming.
A schoolboy was left seriously injured after being attacked by a “six-foot” long shark.
Police say he suffered “a huge gash” on his leg and was taken to the the hospital in stable condition.
Chief Lifeguard Rob Williams of the Newport Beach Fire Department said in a statement that they suspect the swimmer was bitten by a shark but were unable to totally confirm it, as there were no other reported sightings of a shark, or witnesses. She was pulled from the water bleeding heavily from injuries in her upper torso and a shoulder that appeared to be bite marks, said officials, who determined that she had not been struck by a boat. “I don’t think there’s a whole lot of doubt that these will be considered unprovoked shark attacks”, said George Burgess, a shark expert at the University of Florida.
Newport Beach lifeguards and police will be evacuating anyone who enters the water in this area, Finnigan said. Eyewitness News learned Orange County Global Medical Center received a middle-aged female patient with wounds consistent with a shark attack, and she was expected to survive.
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The beach was busy at the time, but not as crowded as it often is on the Memorial Day weekend Sunday, Williams said.
