Shark attack victim dismissed grandkid's fears that predators would strike moments before she was mauled | The Sun
A TOURIST was bitten by a shark after ignoring the fears of her grandson.
Karren Sites, 55, from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania was visiting Myrtle Beach in South Carolina when she went down to the beach with her husband and grandkids.
They had traveled to the popular resort in mid-August, hoping to catch some late summer sun.
But just a day after arriving, their vacation turned into a nightmare when Karren was savaged by a shark while paddling in the sea.
Karren told The Independent that her grandkids kept asking if there were sharks in the sea.
"And I said, 'Oh, don't be afraid. It is so rare that anybody ever gets bit by a shark'," she explained.
Just moments later, her eight-year-old grandson Britan watched in horror as a shark leaped out of the water and sank its teeth into Karren's arm.
"I felt a sharp kind of intense pain on my right arm," she said. "And my first thought was, 'It's anything but a shark'."
At first, she thought she must have been stung by a jellyfish.
However, stunned, Karren said: "I looked down and there was a shark attached to my arm."
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She said that eventually the shark let go of her flesh and she was able to make it back to shore.
In shock, she looked down at the damage to her arm, while horrified tourists rushed to get out of the water.
Thankfully, an ER worker who happened to be vacationing at the same beach rushed to help Karren, washing her arm with bottled water before she was sped to hospital.
Remarkably, other than damage to her ring finger, she was able to escape any lasting injuries and was discharged from hospital a day later.
However, she has been warned that her arm may not be fully functioning again due to tendon and nerve damage.
Karren said her grandson had been left "traumatized" by what happened as he saw everything unfold.
The family decided to stay in Myrtle Beach for the week and even visited the same beach again – although her grandkids unsurprisingly didn't want to go in the sea again.
I looked down and there was a shark attached to my arm
Her terrifying experience comes amid an upsurge in reports of similar attacks in the US.
Karren's incident was just one of two shark attacks in one day in Myrtle Beach.
This year there have been roughly 36 reported shark attacks in the United States and 65 globally, according to the website Tracking Sharks.
Of those, 20 incidents have taken place in Florida, six in New York, five in South Carolina, and one each in California and Hawaii.
In July, CNN reported that warmer seas and conservation efforts could be leading to an increase in shark attacks on New York's beaches, far further north than where the animals have been spotted in the past.
"The country is warmer than it's ever been," California State University Shark Lab director Christopher Lowe said.
"And that’s going to drive more people to the water than ever before, which just simply increases your probability of somebody getting accidentally bit."
It comes as another Pennsylvania woman was killed in a fatal shark attack in the Bahamas.
Caroline DiPlacido, 58, of Millcreek Township, Pennsylvania was killed by the shark last Tuesday while holidaying with family in Nassau.
DiPlacido visited the Bahamas on the Royal Caribbean cruise ship Harmony of the Seas, which left Florida on September 4.
She was enjoying an independent snorkeling excursion with her daughter, son, and husband when the bull shark attacked her.
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The mom died from her injuries following the brutal attack despite being rushed to the hospital.
Jeff Moulton, owner of Seas The Day Bahamas, told Your Erie News that Caroline was standing in about three feet of water when she was attacked.
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