Warning after 6ft long shark savages swimmer in waist high water in second attack at same beach in a week | The Sun
A SHARK has savaged a swimmer in waist high water in the second attack at same beach in a week.
The six foot long beast bit the surfer on his foot at New Smyrna Beach in Florida on Sunday.
It comes just days after a second man, 28, had his left foot bitten while riding the waves at the same spot on July 3.
The popular beach resort has been dubbed the shark capital of the world.
New Smyrna Beach took the unofficial title after a string of terrifying encounters with the dangerous predators in recent years.
Two men in their early twenties, a fisherman and a surfer, suffered bites to their legs and feet in March.
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Last September a 16-year-old boy was bitten in the arm in New Smyrna Beach while surfing. He needed nine stitches.
Daytona Beach News-Journal reports two more people were attacked in May of 2021 on the same beach.
One was a 21-year-old woman wading in 4 feet of water, and the other was a twelve-year-old girl surfing.
June and July of 2021 saw at least three more attacks each.
Volusia County Beach Safety Ocean Rescue Deputy Chief Tamra Malphurs said of Sunday's incident: "The surfer said he thought the shark was feeding on bait fish when he got bit."
The surfer drove himself to hospital following the bite, Fox35 reports.
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On the other side of the coast, a teen lost part of her leg after being attacked by a nine-foot shark.
Addison Bethea, 17, was searching for scallops in water about five feet deep near Grassy Island, just off Keaton Beach, when she was savaged by the beast in Taylor County.
She was rushed to hospital with serious injuries as doctors desperately attempted to save her severely torn limb.
From her hospital bed, brave Addison described the heroic efforts of her half-brother Rhett Willingham, 22, who jumped in the water and beat the huge shark off until his sibling was free.
And Lower Keys, Florida, Lindsay Bruns, from Texas, was with her family when she was mauled.
The mom of two, 35, was on a pontoon board and had dived into the water several times before her husband Luke heard a huge splash, the Miami Herald reports.
He saw blood in the water and Lindsay cried for help.
Meanwhile, shocking video captured the moment a shark attacked a seal off the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
And, lifeguard Zach Gallo was left with a shocking hand injury after being attacked by a five-foot shark during a training exercise in New York.
Seas around the globe have turned red with 39 attacks reported since the start of January as the mighty sea creatures rip off limbs and sink their jaws into unsuspecting swimmers.
Two women were killed in separate shark attacks within 600 metres of each other in Egypt.
In another horror killing this year, Brit Simon Nellist was fatally mauled by a 15ft great white shark in Little Bay, Sydney, as he trained for a charity swim in February.
Dozens of shark bites have been tallied up around the world since 2022 kicked off – but Florida has proved the hotspot with 11 so far, according to Tracking Sharks.
Gavin Naylor, director of the Florida Programme for Shark Research, said there are multiple factors at play causing the high number of shark attacks in the state.
He told The Sun Online: "Florida has more shark bites than most places because it has a long coastline relative to its surface area and much of this coastline is beach.
"The beaches attract a lot of tourists.
"Florida is also sub-tropical and usually has a healthy population of carcharhinid sharks which tend to be between 3-9 ft long. "
Naylor added "When you put it all together with lots of people in water where coastal sharks live, the probability of the sharks mistaking a swimmer's foot or arm for the bait fish they usually feed on increases.
"It's as simple as that."
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