
Recordings of frantic 911 calls have revealed the horrific aftermath when two children were attacked by a shark on the same North Carolina beach.

Kiersten Yow, 12, from Archdale, lost her left arm at the elbow and suffered a leg injury as she swam in the shallow water in Oak Island on Sunday, while 16-year-old Hunter Treschl, from Colorado Springs, Colorado, lost his left arm below the shoulder less than two miles away an hour later.

Calls made by horrified bystanders to 911 were obtained by WECT on Monday as officials said the Brunswick Sheriff's Office is working with other agencies to track down the shark that was behind the attacks.

The first call was made to dispatchers at 4.40pm. 'It looks like her entire hand is gone from what I can tell,' the caller says.

The dispatcher instructed the witness to wrap a clean cloth around the wound and apply pressure. The caller responded that bystanders were controlling the bleeding by using a line from a boogie board. The dispatcher then assured them that help was on its way.

At 5.51pm, another call came in. 'His arm is gone!' the caller tells the dispatcher, referring to Treschl.

Scroll down for 911 recordings and videos

Beach-goers tend to 12-year-old Kiersten Yow after a shark bit off her left arm below the elbow and injured her leg in waist-deep water in North Carolina on Sunday. Just over an hour later, a 16-year-old boy was injured in another shark attack two miles away

The girl, who was vacationing in Oak Island, was airlifted to hospital where she underwent surgery. She is said to be in good condition

He adds that the victim is alert and breathing but that 'there is serious bleeding'. A second caller urges the dispatcher to send an ambulance, saying: 'He's bleeding out.'

Both youngsters, who had been in waist-high water about 20 yards offshore, were airlifted to New Hanover Regional Medical Center in Wilmington and are in good condition following surgery, according to spokesperson Martha Harlan.

On Monday, Brunswick County Emergency Management Director Brian Watts said: 'Honestly, they have a really long road ahead.'

He also credited the life-saving efforts by beach bystanders and quick responses from 911 call centers and emergency workers.

'Without that, we would have had a different outcome,' Watts said.

On Monday afternoon, Treschl's mother expressed her thanks to those who had helped.

'I would like to thank everyone who has cared for my son, from the people who saved him through their quick actions on the beach, to the transport crew, emergency department team, doctors and staff here at New Hanover Regional Medical Center,' she said in a statement. 'I appreciate all their efforts.'

Authorities said on Monday that the Brunswick County Sheriff's Office and other agencies including Water Rescue are 'attempting to locate the shark that may have been involved'.

The crowded beaches were not closed between the two attacks - and the mayor has said she does not believe there was enough time to prevent the second attack.

But both beaches were shut to the public after that incident. Astonishingly, they are open again today despite further sightings of sharks.

'We spotted one shark that was estimated over 7ft long between the locations of the two bites earlier, and then we spotted another one off, down a little further south, about the same size,' Brunswick County Sheriff John Ingram said at a news conference on Monday, ABC reported.

Officials said they couldn't confirm whether the same shark attacked the two youngsters or give details on the size of the animal or animals. But 'common sense would tell you its the same shark,' Oak Island Mayor Betty Wallace told CNN.

Several official agencies rushed to the beaches following 911 calls from distressed onlookers, who gave the victims initial first aid

Close: The first attack happened at Ocean Crest Fishing Pier and the second one was two miles east, 90 minutes later. The beaches were not cleared after the first incident and they were open to visitors today, despite further shark sightings

Experts said the attacks likely involved blacktip or spinner sharks, which are usually six to seven feet long, live in the surf and normally go after fish. When they mistake humans for fish and bite them, they tend to realize their mistake and move on, they said.

The pier is a popular fishing spot, so it is possible that bait in the water could have attracted sharks.

The beach was crowded with visitors during warm weather. They included Steve Bouser and his wife Brenda, who heard people shouting: 'Get out of the water!'

It was so much like a scene from Jaws Witness Brenda Bouser

Mr Bouser described 'nightmarish' scenes as people applied makeshift tourniquets to the girl, who was bleeding heavily from her arm and leg. 'I saw someone carry this girl (out of the water) and people were swarming around and trying to help,' he said. 'It was quite terrible.'

People asked Yow questions to keep her conscious, he added.

'It was so much like a scene from Jaws,' his wife said.

Brunswick County Dispatchers revealed they received the first call at 4.12pm, and several agencies - including Oak Island Police and the Air Link Helicopter - went to the scene near Ocean Crest Mote. The girl, from Asheville, was airlifted to hospital.

A witness to the second attack, Jason Hunter, told WWAY the boy's arm was taken 'clean off'.

Another onlooker, Randy Milligan, told ABC News: '[The shark] just came up and it took his arm. [I] tore off my shirt and I tied it around his arm. And he was screaming, "Is this real?" And "is this a movie?"'

A shark took large chunks out of this boogie board and injured another teenage girl last Thursday at Ocean Isle Beach - just 30 miles away from Sunday's attacks

Keeping watch: A woman stands in the surf on the beach on Monday near to where the two children were attacked by the shark

Patrol: On Monday, a helicopter flies over the Ocean Crest Pier, where the 12-year-old girl lost part of her arm in Sunday's attack

Oak Island Mayor Betty Wallace defended the decision not to close the beaches between the two attacks.

She said that even if the first beach had closed, the order might not have reached the area of the second incident.

'I don't know if it would have extended between the two (locations),' she wrote in an email to the Associated Press.

'A HIGHLY UNUSUAL OCCURRENCE': SHARK ATTACK FACTS There were 72 unprovoked shark attacks in 2014 worldwide and 45 of those happened in the continental U.S. Four happened in North Carolina. There were only three fatalities worldwide from unprovoked shark attacks in 2014. Shark attacks have increased every decade since 1900. As the population increases, there are more people at beach but shark population is holding or decreasing slightly. Source: The Florida Museum of Natural History Advertisement

'Our local police ATVs and the sheriff's boat and helicopter patrolled immediately after the second one, getting everyone out of the water.'

Following the two attacks, sheriff's deputies sent special patrols up and down the shore and a helicopter was launched to search for a shark, described by witnesses as seven to eight feet long.

The grisly scenes came after another attack was reported 30 miles away at Ocean Isle Beach last Thursday.

A 13-year-old girl suffered cuts to her foot, with pictures showing where huge chunks had been bitten out of a boogie board by a shark.

On Monday, officials encouraged people to stay in the shallow parts of the water. Brunswick County plan to have a boat and a helicopter patrolling the area.

'When something like this happens, everyone is on edge, but this is the first time in memory we've had an occurrence of this sort,' Mayor Wallace said.

Fire Chief Christopher Anselmo told NBC's Today show that Sunday's attacks were his first such experience in 16 years with the department.

'We can't guarantee anything - these are ocean waters,' Anselmo said. 'There's a lot of fish and sharks that are in the ocean. There's nothing we can do to control that. We can only education people to be careful in the water.'

Oak Island Town Manager Tim Holloman advised people to be a 'little more beach orientated' on Monday and said a helicopter was going up and down the coast to patrol. He described the attack as 'highly unusual'.

'Oak Island is still a safe place; we're monitoring the situation,' he added.

Braving the water: A helicopter flies close to the water as vacationers head back to the beach in Oak Island on Monday

A hospital spokeswoman said that while she didn't have exact figures regarding the number of attacks it sees annually, incidents are 'usually very minor.'

George Burgess, director of International Shark Attack File at the Florida Museum of Natural History, told Star News Online that he has only ever seen successive shark attacks like Sunday's twice before in his four decades of studying sharks. That was once in Florida 15 to 20 years ago and once in Egypt three or four years ago, he said.

'People shouldn't be scared to go in the water, but they should be dutifully cautious,' he said. 'Obviously there's at least one shark out there that's prone to biting and has sufficient size to have caused very serious injuries.'

The beach at Oak Island, a town of about 7,000 year-round residents, was crowded on Sunday, and 'the weather was beautiful,' the mayor said.

The twin attacks came two weeks before the July 4th holiday weekend, when Oak Island's population typically swells with 30,000 to 40,000 visitors.

Wallace said shark encounters are virtually unheard of there, adding that a longtime resident could not recall a single one in 36 years.