OAK ISLAND: Two young people vacationing in coastal North Carolina were swimming in waist-deep water when they lost limbs in separate shark attacks, officials said Monday.
A 12-year-old girl lost part of her arm and suffered a leg injury, and a 16-year-old boy lost his left arm less than 90 minutes later and about 2 miles (3 kilometers) away late Sunday afternoon in the small town of Oak Island, officials said. The victims were each about 20 yards (meters) offshore.
Both were in good condition Monday after being airlifted to a nearby hospital. Surgeons amputated the girl’s left arm below her elbow, and she has tissue damage to her lower left leg. The boy’s left arm was amputated below his left shoulder. Neither victim’s name was released.
“Honestly they have a really long road ahead,” said Brian Watts, a local emergency official.
Watts credited their survival to bystanders who helped to stanch their bleeding and the quick work of emergency personnel.
Investigators said they didn’t know whether the same shark attacked both victims, nor the size of the shark in either attack. A 7-foot (2-meter) shark was later spotted in the area where the incidents happened.
Witnesses described a frightening and chaotic scene on the normally placid beach.
“I saw someone carry this girl (out of the water), and people were swarming around and trying to help,” Steve Bouser, who was just beginning his weeklong vacation, told The Associated Press. “It was quite terrible.” The girl was bleeding heavily, and people applied makeshift tourniquets while asking her questions to try to keep her conscious.
The beaches were closed after the second attack and they were reopened Monday. Officials urged caution but said they can’t stop people from swimming.