A beachgoer on Hilton Head Island was bitten by a possible shark on Monday, making shark encounters rare off the South Carolina coast.
The woman was bitten while swimming at Sea Pines Resort, a sprawling hotel along the island’s south coast. News 3 reported.
She was able to get out of the water on her own and, although bleeding, her wounds were healing.
Thankfully, the “possible shark bite” wasn’t serious enough to rush her to hospital, although it’s unclear whether she made it there on her own.
Lifeguards closed the beach for 30 minutes until the water was deemed safe.
The incident was the first official shark bite incident on the island this year, but Shore Beach Services said there had been “unconfirmed but possible shark bite incidents earlier this year.”
Shark attacks on Hilton Head are rare but not uncommon.
Last year, on this very same beach, a 60-year-old man was standing in waist-deep water when a shark bit him on the leg, leaving him with horrific, but non-life-threatening injuries.
In 2021, a lifeguard was checking the water when a shark bit him in the chest. He also survived.
A shark expert told The Post earlier this month that shark encounters have become the “new normal” due to a surge in populations of the sharks’ favorite prey.
But the apex predators do not target humans, and most bites are accidental, occurring as a result of a swimmer interrupting their feeding behavior.
