3rd Shark Attack in 3 Days

Posted By Sara-Lise Haith on Tuesday Apr 29, 2008 @ 16:31 in Scuba

Print this Page

Local 6 reports:

Swimmers were again cleared from the water at a New Smyrna Beach yesterday, after a third swimmer in three days was bitten by a shark and treated at a hospital. This was the ninth recorded shark bite of the year in Volusia County, putting the number of bites ahead of the record breaking "Year Of The Shark" in 2001, according to beach records. Monday's bite happened when an 18-year-old was trying to get back on a surfboard near the Ponce De Leon Inlet's south jetty. The victim received stitches at a Central Florida hospital. There were apparently several shark sightings in the water which prompted lifeguards to instruct bathers to leave the water.

Over the weekend two different swimmers were treated at hospitals after being bitten by sharks. A 24-year-old man stepped off of his surfboard in chest-deep water near a jetty in New Smyrna Beach Sunday and was bitten on his right calf. He was taken to Bert Fish Medical Center and treated, and on Saturday, a 21-year-old man was treated at a hospital after a shark bit his foot while he was surfing in the same area Saturday.

In 2001, there were some 22 recorded bites -- the most ever in Volusia County..