A Corona mom was identified Tuesday as the victim in an apparent shark attack off the coast of Corona del Mar last weekend. That had been the final area still closed after authorities tried to find the shark following the Sunday late afternoon attack.
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Maria Korcsmaros was training for an upcoming half Iron Man triathlon Sunday when she was bitten by a shark and suffered traumatic injuries to her arm, torso and pelvis, Jeff Corless, a spokesman for the Santa Ana hospital said during a news conference.
The mother was remarkably calm when she arrived at the hospital in critical condition after suffering what appeared to be a shark bite at an Orange County beach.
Rich Fernicola, a physician who helps with shark research at the Marine Mammal Stranding Center in Brigantine, said population, global warning and growing tourism are all responsible for the greater risk of attacks. A 13-year old boy at Neptune Beach near Jacksonville was bitten Sunday and an 11-year-old girl and a 57-year-old woman were bitten about a week ago, also near Jacksonville.
“People are swimming with sharks all the time because sharks don’t care about bitting people”, the executive director of the Shark Research Institute Marie Lavine said previously.
According to Rotter, time will tell if she will have full use of her right arm.
Lowe said he’s not surprised to see a shark attack so early in the season. She will be hospitalized for at least another week.
She was bitten while swimming about 100 yards offshore, just outside buoys marking a protected swimming area near where boats travel.
The ban on entering the water stretched for several miles from the Balboa Pier to the city limits at Crystal Cove State Beach.
Shark attacks on both coasts are raising new concerns about beach safety this summer.
Chief Lifeguard Rob Williams says they’re searching the water again Monday, with police in a helicopter assisting.
As the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission notes, Florida’s diverse shark population does not “see humans as a food source”. National Geographic claimed a year ago that global warming was a major factor in a spree of seven shark attacks in North Carolina.
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“We’ve had surfers land right in front of sharks, and sharks don’t swim backwards”, she said.
