Authorities are telling beachgoers to stay on high alert after three people were injured in two separate shark-related incidents in less than two hours on the same stretch of beach along the Florida panhandle coastline on Friday. Two of the victims were seriously injured, with a woman losing part of her arm and a teen losing a hand and most of her leg.
According to a Facebook post from the South Walton Fire District in Santa Rosa Beach, FL, the first incident occurred around 1:20 p.m. when an unidentified 45-year-old woman was bitten by a shark as she was swimming near WaterSound Beach. When emergency responder arrived on the scene, she was found to have sustained critical injuries on her hip and lower left arm and was airlifted to a nearby trauma facility.
South Walton Fire District Chief Ryan Crawford later told reporters that the woman sustained "significant trauma" to the midsection of her body, and part of her left arm had to be amputated, per ABC News.
Then, about 90 minutes later, around 2:55 p.m. just four miles east of the first incident, two teenage girls, 15 and 17, were attacked while wading in waist deep water with a group of friends. While the 17-year-old sustained only minor flesh wounds to her foot, the 15-year-old, Lulu Gribbin, suffered serious injuries to her upper leg and hand and was likewise rushed to a trauma facility.
In a blog post, via WDHN News, Gribbin's mother said that the shark had bitten off the girl's left hand and that doctors were forced to amputate her right leg halfway up from her knee to her hip. She also had lost about two-thirds of the blood in her body, and is expected to require four to five surgeries to finalize her amputations.
Her mother explained in the post that she had just heard reports of a shark attack before panicking and realizing that something was wrong.
"I saw her wounds on her leg and started to scream," she wrote, of the moment she saw her injured daughter lying on the beach. "The wound on her leg or all that was left of her leg was something out of a movie. I finally made it back to her and held her hand and she saw me, and I told her I was there. Her eyes were open. I had no idea how long she had been there or what had happened."
Officials believe it was the same bull shark that attacked all three individuals.
As of Monday, authorities had continued to issue yellow and purple flags due to moderate surf hazards and dangerous marine life present in the area. "Please respect the open water and all of the marine life that may be present at any time," the South Walton Fire District posted on Facebook. "We encourage everyone to be mindful of the surf hazards and swim to their abilities."
from Men's Journal https://ift.tt/3pzJfxV
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