3 swimmers, including 2 teenagers, attacked by sharks off the Florida panhandle

US News

By Patrick Reilly

A woman had part of her arm amputated and two other teenagers were hospitalized after back-to-back shark attacks off the Florida panhandle on Friday, according to local authorities.

The woman, 45, was swimming at Watersound Beach in Walton County around 1:20 p.m. when a shark bit her while she and her husband were just beyond the sandbar, the woman told reporters. South Walton Fire District Chief Ryan Crawford.

The shark bite caused “significant trauma” to her abdomen and she had to have part of her left arm amputated, Crawford said, according to ABC News. She was airlifted to HCA Fort Walton-Destin Hospital in critical condition.

Just 90 minutes later, about six kilometers from the beach, two girls aged 15 and 17 were also attacked while swimming with their group of friends in waist-deep water, reports said. authorities.

One of the girls suffered “significant injuries” to her upper leg and hand and was flown to Ascension Sacred Heart Pensacola Hospital in critical condition, Crawford said.

The other teen suffered minor foot injuries and was also transported by EMS to an area hospital.

“It’s an anomaly…from the number of three victims to the situation,” Walton County Sheriff Michael A. Adkinson, Jr. told reporters. “All we can do is react, control and mitigate what we can. »

Authorities decided to close the ocean to swimmers after the two incidents.

Adkinson Jr. said the last shark attack in the county was in 2021. The last fatal attack was in 2005.