Suffolk County Sheriff Steve Bellone said at a news conference that the beach “is once again closed to swimming due to a shark bite that occurred earlier this morning. ‘
The victim, a 41-year-old man, suffered a 4-inch leg fracture from the bite.
The man was knocked off his board during the attack and managed to hit the shark.
As the shark circled back, a wave helped the man escape and carried him back to shore, where he called for help.
“That was the last contact with the shark,” Bellone said. “We have had no additional sightings since this incident occurred.”
The victim told officials he believed his attacker was a sand tiger shark about four feet long.
Warmer water temperatures, cleaner oceans and more food are resulting in more interactions between sharks and humans.
“This is an issue of incredible importance to all of us here in Suffolk County,” Bellone said.
Suffolk County Sheriff Steve Bellone holds a press conference following the 2nd shark attack in 10 days at Smith Point Beach. “You interact with marine life whenever you’re out in the ocean, but it’s closer to shore now,” Bellone said.
An aerial shot shows an ambulance on Smith Point Beach the morning of Wednesday’s shark attack, as seen on NBC New York. The victim told officials he believed his attacker was a sand tiger shark about four feet long
Beachgoers hang out near a no-swimming sign posted at Smith Point Beach after a 2nd shark attack in 10 days. The paddler reported that the shark knocked him off his board and bit him, before he punched the shark and rode a wave back to shore
The incident is the second time in 10 days that someone has been attacked by a shark at the beach.
“For two of these incidents to happen is unprecedented,” Bellone said. “We’ve never seen this before.”
Lifeguard Zachari Gallo was playing the role of victim during a training exercise when a five-foot shark bit him on the chest and arm on July 3.
He received stitches to his chest and Suffolk County officials closed a Long Island beach to swimming Sunday after the unprecedented shark attack.
The lifeguard said as soon as he felt the texture of his attacker, he knew it was a shark.
“I felt a sharp, sharp pain and as soon as I felt the rubbery texture, I knew it was some kind of shark,” Gallo told CBS.
He said: “I hit the shark three times. I went boom, boom, boom. I guess on the third one he went backwards and his tail hit me in the chest.”
“We haven’t seen our beach closed to swimming in the history of Smith Point County Park since it opened in 1959,” Bellone said Wednesday. “I think it’s an indication, though, that what we’re looking at is something of a new normal.”
“Interactions between humans and sharks can now increase, and fortunately we have not seen any significant injuries.”
Bellone said officials responded to the most recent incident by “putting a drone in the air,” as well as having an official check of the waters on a WaveRunner boat.
Suffolk County Parks said the beach reopened as of 1:30 p.m. of Wednesday.
“We will continue this heightened surveillance for the rest of the day and beyond,” he said.
The man was attacked “before lifeguards were on duty,” and Bellone took time to remind residents “of the dangers of being out in the ocean without a protected beach.”
“We urge people to stay out of the water when lifeguards are not on duty,” he said.
“We have the best trained lifeguards anywhere in the state,” Bellone said. “They are constantly on the lookout for any dangers out on the waterways.”
Bellone offered residents safety tips, including avoiding swimming at dusk and dawn when there are no lifeguards, “wear shiny jewelry,” don’t enter the water while bleeding and don’t go “too far.”
He also added that swimming in a group “always makes sense” so that if someone is in trouble, “there is help immediately”.
“You interact with marine life whenever you’re out in the ocean, but it’s closer to shore now,” Bellone said.
Zachari Gallo describes how he fought off a shark off New York’s Smith Point Beach on July 3. He said: “I hit the shark three times. I went boom, boom, boom. I guess on the third one it came back and the tail hit me in the chest.’
Gallo suffered a bite on his hand after punching the shark
Gallo received stitches to his chest and Suffolk County officials closed a Long Island beach to swimming Sunday after the unprecedented shark attack
Addison Bethea, 17, is pictured at the hospital in Tallahassee days after being attacked by a shark. Brother Rhett Willingham, 22, left, saved her life by beating the shark
The two attacks in New York came as a 17-year-old lost a leg after being bitten by a shark on a Florida beach – only to be saved when her EMT brother knocked the creature off her thigh.
Addison Bethea was attacked when the teenager and her half-brother, Rhett Willingham, 22, went out for scallops in just five feet of water near Grassy Island, off Keaton Beach in Taylor County.
Her father, Shane Addison, 46, told DailyMail.com that his daughter was on brother Rhett’s boat about a mile and a half off shore and was swimming in the water when she suddenly felt something hit her on the back of the leg.
“Addison thought her brother was just playing around until a nine-foot shark latched onto her thigh and she started screaming and there was blood everywhere,” he said.
As his daughter tried to pull the shark off her leg, her brother began to hit the beast relentlessly trying to get his sister off. As soon as she was freed, he grabbed her and carried her to his boat. A random stranger saw that the couple was in distress.
Rhett placed his sister in the stranger’s boat and then used a 4-foot tourniquet around the top of her right leg to stop the bleeding.
“The shark did her bad,” Shane said. “She was very pale and almost in shock.”
Rhett called for an ambulance, and when they got back to land, she was airlifted to Tallahassee Memorial Hospital about 80 miles away.
