A swimmer has suffered a severe foot injury in a suspected shark attack at Jones Beach State Park Friday, marking the first such reported encounter there this summer.
The incident occurred around 12 p.m. at Field 6 as massive crowds gathered to escape 100-degree temperatures and watch the Navy’s Blue Angels practice for a Fourth of July weekend air show.
Lifeguard Kate Maio, who treated the victim, said the man approached her station bleeding from his foot.
“He came running over to our lifeguard stand … his foot was bleeding and he was saying, ‘I got bit, I got bit! I don’t want to look’,” Maio told the New York Post.
Maio described the injury as a single, deep gash across the man’s toes that exposed the underlying bone. She said that her partner initially wrapped the foot in a shirt to act as a tourniquet, though the wound soon began to bleed heavily.
“The man who got bit said that it felt like a jaw-biting motion and that it went clean through,” Maio said. “It was crazy, but these things happen.”
Emergency medical services transported the injured man to a local hospital. Lifeguards said they expected him to make a complete recovery, the Post reported.
According to lifeguards, the victim had been swimming near the edge of the designated safe area marked by green flags, positioning him close to where shoreline fishermen typically operate.
Though the victim did not see what attacked him, another swimmer reported seeing a fin move away from the area immediately after the incident. Lifeguards suspect that the wound characteristics are consistent with a baby sand tiger shark, according to the outlet.
The incident follows multiple shark sightings that disrupted beach activities in the region the previous day. On Thursday, authorities closed the water at Rockaway Beach for several hours after a group of bull sharks, and a nine-foot shark was spotted near Point Lookout, according to New York City’s Emergency Management Department.
