Korcsmaros – a mother and triathlete – was expected to recover from the bite she received May 29 at Corona del Mar State Beach, doctors said.
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Sharks at least 8 feet in length were spotted in the waters off Sunset Beach about 2 p.m. Sunday, prompting authorities to prohibit anyone from getting in the ocean for the rest of the day and much of this morning until 10:30 a.m., Panis said.
She described feeling the bite as “surreal” and said it’s a moment that replays in her head quite often as she continues to recover at Orange County Global Medical Center in Santa Ana.
A sheriff’s helicopter crew saw the sharks Sunday and Monday.
Closures following a shark sighting typically last between 12 to 24 hours.
A woman bitten by a shark in Southern California appeared smiling in her hospital bed in a newly released photograph, while shark sightings have closed beaches near her attack twice in two days.
An Orange County Sheriff’s Department helicopter crew sighted “several large sharks” trolling the waters off Anderson Street in Huntington Beach, and authorities made a decision to close 2 miles of beach to swimmers.
Korcsmaros is now taking antibiotics to help keep any infection at bay as she recovers at the hospital.
The woman, a triathlete, was hospitalized with wounds consistent with a shark attack.
The normally choppy water around her grew still and turned red with blood, Korcsmaros, a 52-year-old fitness instructor, recalled lifeguards telling her later after they pulled her from the ocean and whisked her to safety.
Shark advisory signs were posted to warn swimmers of the recent sightings.
She was brought to the Orange County Global Medical Center for a three-hour surgery.
It was not immediately clear what type of shark bit Korecsmaros.
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But this year could surpass the number as shark populations recover from historic lows in the 1990s, while the world’s human population has grown and rising temperatures are leading more people to go swimming.
