Shark attacks in Florida frighten beachgoers, but experts warn they should not worry

An “extremely rare” series of two shark attacks off the coast of Florida left several people injured last week, but experts are warning beachgoers not to be alarmed.

The latest two attacks on two beaches in the state left three people injured within just an hour and a half on Friday. The first victim, a 45-year-old woman, was swimming with her husband past the first sandbar of a beach in Watersound when the shark attacked. She had to have part of her left arm amputated and suffered “significant injuries” to her midsection. Watersound is on the Gulf Coast, about 120 miles west of Tallahassee.

Two girls, aged 15 and 17, were attacked less than 4 miles offshore in Fort Walton while swimming in waist-deep water with a group of friends. One girl suffered “serious” injuries to her hand and leg, while the other suffered minor lacerations to her foot.

A third attack occurred on the same day. A 25-year-old woman was admitted to a trauma hospital in serious condition after a shark attack near the Hawaiian island of Oahu.

“It is rare, extremely rare, that there are three victims in one day,” Ryan Crawford, fire chief of the South Walton Fire District, said at a press conference on Friday.

More:Tiger shark vomits up its entire spiny land animal in rare sighting: “Its entire spine and legs”

Experts believe that the number of attacks increases the more people are in the water

Shark attacks and deaths have increased over the past year, but experts say the recent numbers are not unusual.

Researchers from the International Shark Attack File, part of the Florida Shark Research Program at the University of Florida, confirmed 69 unprovoked bites worldwide, bringing the five-year average to 63 attacks. 52% of these occurred in the United States, and 16 in the state of Florida. Ten people died in the attacks, five more than the previous year.

So far this year, shark bites have declined, said Gavin Naylor, research program leader and file administrator. “There were very, very few shark bites this year, but now things are looking up,” he said.

Naylor said as warm weather brings more people into the water, the risk of attacks increases.

Baitfish that sharks feed on in Florida also swim close to shore, increasing the risk of shark encounters, he said. “There are people swimming in the water and sharks feeding on their normal food source, and that’s where people are that accidents happen,” Naylor said.

Local authorities still viewed the successive attacks as an anomaly.

Mackenzie McClintock, spokeswoman for the South Walton Fire District, called last week’s incidents “very rare.” The last shark attack death in the district was in 2005, nearly 10 years ago, she said.

“We have never seen anything like this before,” she added. She said 20 to 30 people responded to the attacks, including some paramedics who arrived by helicopter.

The two victims with serious injuries have a “chance to fight,” Walton County Sheriff Michael Adkinson said at a press conference on Friday evening.

In a post on the fundraising site Caring Bridge, the mother of one of the teenage girls injured in the attack said she rushed to the beach with a friend when she heard reports of a shark and found her daughter there on the ground, “lifeless, with her eyes closed, her mouth white and pale.”

“The wound on her leg, or whatever was left of her leg, was like something out of a movie,” she wrote.

A family spokesman declined to comment further to USA TODAY.

More:Two giant great white sharks appear within a minute of each other off the coast of Florida

Bull sharks, common in Florida, may be behind the attack

McClintock said officials would not speculate on what type of shark was behind the attack. However, Naylor said it was almost certainly a bull shark. That species, along with the tiger shark, is one of two species found near the coast in Florida, he said.

He said local officials told him after the attacks that drone footage had captured bull sharks near the shore. About 60 to 70 sharks could be seen swimming near the shore every day, he said.

“This is not unusual. And they mind their own business,” he said.

Better water quality could also encourage shark attacks, say shark researchers at the university. The improved water quality around New York may have contributed to the first reported shark attack in the New York City area last year in over half a century.

A 65-year-old woman was seriously injured in the August attack on Far Rockaway Beach in Queens. New York authorities said several shark bites had been reported earlier in the summer.

After the two attacks, firefighters warned beachgoers “not to underestimate the open water and the marine life that may be found there,” according to a Facebook post from the fire district on Sunday. Lifeguards at Dune Allen Beach continued to fly purple flags to warn of the presence of dangerous marine life. Authorities also closed the beach for less than 24 hours.

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