CNN
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Three individuals have been injured in two shark assaults inside simply 90 minutes of one another Friday at neighboring seashores in Walton County, Florida, authorities say.
The assaults occurred about 4 miles aside and left two individuals in important situation and a 3rd in steady situation, South Walton Hearth District Hearth Chief Ryan Crawford mentioned in a joint information convention Friday.
Simply after 1:15 p.m., authorities responded to a report of a girl being injured by a shark within the water close to Watersound Method and Coopersmith Lane, in line with the Walton County Sheiff’s Office.
A forty five-year-old girl was “reportedly swimming simply previous the primary sandbar together with her husband” close to WaterSound Seashore, Crawford mentioned within the information convention.
The lady, who’s in important situation, suffered important trauma to the midsection and pelvic space and her left decrease arm was amputated, in line with Crawford. The lady was airlifted to an area trauma facility for remedy.
The second assault came about on the Sandy Shores Court docket space of Seacrest Seashore at roughly 2:55 p.m., 4 miles east of the primary incident. Two women roughly 15 to 17 years outdated have been in waist deep water with a bunch of mates simply inside the primary sandbar when the incident occurred, in line with the hearth district.
One of many youngsters had important accidents to the higher leg and one hand, and the opposite had minor accidents on one foot, in line with the hearth district.
Following the incidents, seashore flags have been modified to double purple Friday to point the water was closed for swimming.
“Double purple flags are actually flying on the seashores within the surrounding space. The Gulf is now closed to the general public in Walton County within the localized space of the incident,” the sheriff’s workplace mentioned in its post at the time. “We’re encouraging beachgoers to be cognizant that lifeguards and seashore deputies could also be attempting preserve individuals out of the water within the quick space.”
Walton County Sheriff Michael Adkinson mentioned throughout the information convention that authorities are talking with specialists to see if there may be “one thing anomalous.”
“We don’t assume there may be, however we actually wish to be diligent,” he mentioned. “We all know we share the water with sharks, we perceive that as tragic as that is, there are all the time sharks.”
The final two shark incidents within the space have been reported in 2021 and 2005, in line with the Walton County Sheriff’s Workplace.
Throughout the latest assault, in June 2021, a 14-year-old boy survived after being bitten within the chest space whereas swimming close to a fishing line 40 yards from the shore in Grayton State Park. One other assault was deadly – in June 2005, a 14-year-old woman from Louisiana was on a boogie board 250 yards from shore when she was pulled below by the shark and bitten within the legs.
Whereas the chance of being bitten by a shark is extraordinarily low, Florida tops world charts for the variety of shark bites, in line with the Florida Museum of Pure Historical past’s annual shark assault report.
In 2023, Florida had 16 unprovoked shark chunk incidents reported, which represents 44% of the US complete and 23% worldwide. Volusia County had probably the most shark bites, and the others have been reported in Brevard, St. Lucie, Miami-Dade, Palm Seashore, Escambia and Pinellas counties. There have been no fatalities reported final 12 months within the state because of the assaults.