Shark mauls beachgoer in front of horrified crowd in Del Mar with California coast closed for days after bloody attack
A SWIMMER has been rushed to the hospital after a shark bit him on three different parts of his body.
He was reportedly with a group of a dozen other swimmers who meet regularly to train in the waters when the bloody attack occurred.
The 46-year-old man was bitten early Sunday morning 100 yards off the shore of Del Mar, California, about 22 miles north of San Diego, according to the city’s website.
A city official said lifeguards witnessed a swimmer helping another swimmer and quickly rushed to help, not realizing it had been a shark attack, according to FOX affiliate KSWB.
The shark managed to bite the man on his torso, left arm, and hand.
He was brought by ambulance to Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla where doctors believe the injuries “are significant but not believed to be life-threatening.”
Lifeguards have posted signs along the beach, warning swimmers and surfers of the closure reading, “Closure: Shark Incident. Do not Enter” with the date and location.
The water will remain closed for one mile in both directions from the incident until June 4.
‘I’M SO LUCKY’
Sunday’s attack was not the first shark incident California has seen this year.
On May 26, Evan Garcia, from San Clemente, California, was surfing 15 miles southeast of Laguna Beach when a 6-foot shark sunk its teeth into his board.
Garcia, 25, was surfing around 7:45 when he was knocked off his board into the water and came face-to-face with the animal, he told local Fox affiliate KTTV.
He raced back to the beach to warn others, showing his board that had a bite mark which was almost a foot in diameter.
“I feel like that’s as lucky as you possibly can be,” Garcia said.
“When that thing hit me from below, I knew right away that it was a shark.
“As someone who surfs a lot and spends a lot of time in the water, you always know that’s a possibility but there are people out there who have been seriously injured by sharks and I’m so lucky that it only got my board.”
He told the outlet that he knew by the force of the hit that the shark was aimed to attack.
“There was no doubt in my mind, the way that it hit the board from below, it was coming for me for sure,” he added.
“It was strong enough to knock me completely into the water.”
Footage from Surfline.com showed the surfer being knocked off his board into the ocean.
He thinks the shark was a 4- to 6-foot juvenile great white shark which he says “are sighted on our coast all of the time.”
After an expert confirmed the bite on his board, the beach and water were cleared and closed for 24 hours.
San Clemente officials shut down ocean water at all of the city’s beaches saying that there had been “confirmed aggressive shark behavior in the vicinity of T-Street Beach.”
“The beaches will remain open, but water access will remain closed until 8:00 pm tonight [Monday, 5/27/24], pending no additional shark sightings,” the notice added.
Water access was reopened on Monday evening.
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