A woman suffered partial amputation of an arm and two other teenagers were hospitalized after separate shark attacks off the coast of Florida on Friday, local authorities said.
South Walton Fire Chief Ryan Crawford told reporters that the 45-year-old woman was bitten by the shark while swimming at Water Sound Beach in Walton County around 1:20 p.m., just beyond the sandbar with her husband.
The shark bite left her with “significant trauma” to her torso and required part of her left arm to be amputated, Crawford said. According to ABC News:She was transported by helicopter to HCA Fort Walton Destin Hospital in critical condition.
Just 90 minutes later, two girls, aged 15 and 17, were attacked around four miles from shore while swimming with friends in waist-deep water. Officials.
One of the girls suffered “severe injuries” to her thigh and hand and was taken by helicopter to Ascension Sacred Heart Pensacola Hospital in critical condition, Crawford said.
The other girl also suffered minor injuries to her leg and was taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital.
“This is an extraordinary situation … from the fact that there are three victims to where they are right now,” Walton County Sheriff Michael A. Adkinson Jr. told reporters. “All we can do is respond, control and mitigate as much damage as we can.”
After both incidents, authorities decided to close the beach to bathers.
Addickinson Jr. said the last shark attack in the county was in 2021. The last fatal shark attack was in 2005.
