OAK ISLAND, N.C. — A teen boy lost a limb just 90 minutes after a girl suffered major injuries in two life-threatening shark attacks in the surf at a Brunswick County island on Sunday afternoon.
By late Sunday, officials at Oak Island — where the two attacks happened Sunday — were evacuating everyone out of the ocean. Also, the Brunswick County Sheriff’s office sent a helicopter up and down the coast to patrol — and the helicopter will also be patrolling the surf on Monday.
Officials said that the first attack Sunday involved a 13-year-old girl and happened at 4:12 pm at Oak Island, just three days after another teen girl was attacked at a nearby Brunswick County island.
The injured teen girl on Sunday lost part of her left arm and may lose her left leg, Oak Island Mayor Betty Wallace said.
The first reported attack happened near the Ocean Crest Motel, which is near the pier and is located at 1417 East Beach Drive.
The second attack, which happened around 5:30 p,m, near 55th Street and the ocean, injured a 16-year-old boy, who lost an arm in the attack, Wallace told WECT.
An official at the Ocean Crest Motel told WNCN that a 14-year-old girl was attacked and suffered injuries.
Both the injured girl and boy were taken by helicopter to New Hanover Regional Medical Center.
A witness, Jason Hunter, saw the boy just after the attack and said the shark “took it (the arm) clean off.” Hunter said there was blood in the water and it was washing up on shore.
On Sunday evening, officials said that both teens were stable and were out of surgery.
The beaches won’t be closed on Monday, but folks are encouraged to stay on the beach and out of the water “until we get a better handle on the situation,” an official said at a press conference Sunday evening.
Wallace said that the girl was visiting family and is not from the Oak Island area.
“Every agency involved has mobilized its resources to address the situation. And our thoughts and prayers are with both families of both victims at this time,” said Tim Holloman, the Oak Island town manager.
“One of the things we hope we never have to hear from a beach community; the shark bite victim is a teenage girl,” Wallace said.
Both attacks come after another teen girl was attacked on Thursday — also at an island in Brunswick County.
In that attack, the 13-year-old girl suffered cuts to her foot and her ‘boogie board’ was destroyed by shark bites at Ocean Isle.
On Sunday, Oak Island officials stressed the attacks on the island were rare.
Here is shark attack data from the Florida Museum of Natural History:
72 unprovoked shark attacks in 2014 worldwide
45 of those happened in the continental U.S.
4 of those happened in NC
Only 3 fatalities worldwide from unprovoked shark attacks in 2014
Shark attacks have increased every decade since 1900. People population increasing, more people at beach….but shark population is actually holding or decreasing slightly.
