Two teenagers seriously injured in twin attacks within hours of each other on the same beach on Sunday, terrifying beachgoers

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

Two teenagers were seriously injured in two separate shark attacks off the coast of the same North Carolina town on Sunday, terrifying beachgoers and prompting one witness to compare the scene to the movie Jaws.

A 13-year-old girl and a 16-year-old boy each lost limbs in the attacks.

The first victim, the teenage girl, lost a part of her arm when she was bitten off the stretch of beach in Oak Island.

Just over an hour later, the emergency medical services received a call that a boy had been attacked on the beach, about two miles from the first attack.

Both victims were airlifted to New Hanover Regional Medical Center in Wilmington. The teenagers arrived in a critical condition, according to hospital spokeswoman Martha Harlan.



Harlan said both victims had an arm amputated. The 16-year-old had his arm removed below the shoulder, while the 13-year old had hers amputated at the elbow. The girl also sustained serious tissue damage to her leg, according to Harlan.

Both patients, whose names have not been released, have since had their conditions upgraded to “fair”.

“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 week-long beach 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.

It was “quite nightmarish”, Bouser said.

His wife, Brenda Bouser, said: “It was so much like a scene from Jaws.”

Betty Wallace, Oak Island’s mayor, told CNN that shark attacks are so rare at Oak Island that she could not remember one occurring before the incident this weekend.

Both attacks occurred at high tide in the vicinity of Ocean Crest Pier, a popular destination for beachgoers. “At the pier this time of year, I’m sure the beach was packed,” Wallace said.

Local officials sent an all-terrain vehicle to get everyone out of the water, and the Brunswick county sheriff’s office was planning to have a helicopter patrol the coastline, the mayor said.

Red flags have reportedly been hoisted at most Brunswick County beaches and a helicopter was scouring the waters for sharks.

Wallace said on Sunday evening she had no further information on the girl’s condition. The girl is not from Oak Island but was visiting family, the mayor said.

Tim Holloman, the town manager, said that in 16 years he has never seen anything like what happened on Sunday. “Oak Island is still a safe place,” he told ABC news. “We’re monitoring the situation. This is highly unusual.”

He said the beaches would be open on Monday, but visitors would be encouraged not to go in the water.

“The Brunswick county sheriff’s department will have Marine One and their helicopter support to monitor the coastline for any activities tomorrow,” he said.

Due to the nature of the attacks, experts said it was highly likely that a large shark – such as the tiger or bull shark – was to blame.

“This is the real deal threat,” George Burgess of the University of Florida, who has been studying sharks for 40 years, told ABC news. “This is highly unusual – I have seen this twice in 40 years. Once in Egypt and once in the Florida Panhandle.”