Shark Bite Reported at Atlantic Beach

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Eyewitness News

(07/17/07 -- ATLANTIC BEACH) (WTVD) -- The Atlantic Beach Fire Department confirms a 30-year old woman from Ohio was bitten by a shark Tuesday on the eastern part of Atlantic Beach.

The woman was wading in waist-deep water around 1 p.m. near the Tar Landing Condominium Complex, about two-miles east of the Atlantic Beach Boardwalk.

Atlantic Beach Fire Department officials say the woman felt something grab her right thigh. She began kicking it with her left foot, and the shark then bit her left foot before swimming off. Officials report bite marks were visible on her left foot and she sustained serious injuries to her right leg.

The woman, whose name has not been released, was taken to Carteret General Hospital in Morehead City.

ABFD says the shark is believed to be about 5-feet in length, judging from the bite marks. They believe this was an isolated incident, calling it a case of "msitaken identity by the shark" due to rough, murky water.

The beaches were never closed, and they say it is safe to swim.

ABFD says this is the first shark incident near Atlantic Beach in the last 12 to 13 years.

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