A 17-year-old boy is in critical condition after he was apparently attacked by a shark in the ocean off North Carolina’s Outer Banks Saturday, just 14 miles from the site of another suspected shark attack a day earlier, officials said.
The teen was swimming at a beach on the Cape Hatteras National Seashore near Waves at about 4 p.m. when he was apparently bitten by a shark and injured on his calf, buttocks and both hands, according to a statement from the National Park Service.
The victim was airlifted to Norfolk, Virginia. A spokesperson for Sentara Norfolk General Hospital said he is in critical condition.
The 17-year-old was swimming with friends in about three feet of water about 20 feet offshore when the shark attack occurred, NBC affiliate WITN reported. He was the only person injured.
Shark attack took place at the beach at the KOA in Rodanthe, NC. First day of vacation…no beach for us this week. pic.twitter.com/9e6aVnoOpj
— David Marko (@DavidMarko1) June 27, 2015On Friday, a 47-year-old man suffered injuries to his right leg and lower back believed to have been caused by a shark just 14 miles down the Cape Hatteras National Seashore, according to the National Park Service.
The last shark encounter at the Cape Hatteras National Seashore, before the two this weekend, was in 2011, the Park Service said. NBC affiliate WITN reported that there were seven reports of people being attacked by sharks off the Carolina coast in the past two weeks.
Last week, two teens lost arms after separate shark attacks in Oak Island, North Carolina, which is nearly 300 miles from the Cape Hatteras National Seashore.
Elisha Fieldstadt