A woman was bitten on her left leg and taken to a hospital from Rockaway Beach. Photo: New York Daily News
A 65-year-old woman was critically injured after being attacked by a shark on one of New York's most popular beaches.
On Tuesday, officials closed Rockaway Beach to swimming and surfing after how a woman was bitten on her left leg while in the water.
Locals named her Tatyana Koltunyuk, who lives nearby and visits the beach five days a week, according to the New York Post.
Police tried to reassure the locals and vacationers claim attacks by New York-based tiger sharks are «extremely rare» but have increased in recent years.
Rescuers pulled the woman out of the water around 6:00 pm on Monday evening before taking her to a Jamaica hospital.
'Terrible event'
A police spokesman said she was in a critical but stable condition and that officials hoped «While this was a frightening event, we want to remind New Yorkers that shark bites are extremely rare in Rockaway,» a spokesperson for the city's parks and recreation said. reported in the department.
A police helicopter was used to search for the shark, but was unsuccessful.
Shark attacks are rare, with only 57 incidents reported worldwide last year, according to the University of Florida's International Shark Attack File.
But in recent years, the number of incidents and bites has increased. in New York.
Of the 57 attacks, 41 occurred in the United States, eight of them in New York.
Numerous attacks were recorded in early July east of Rockaway, and a 15-year-old girl was reportedly bitten by a shark while swimming on Long Island's Robert Moses Beach.
Shark attack in New York
Another A 15-year-old boy was bitten on the leg and taken to hospital while surfing off nearby Fire Island.
The next day, a 49-year-old man was bitten on the hand while swimming on the island, and an aged woman about 50 years later was attacked.
A 47-year-old man is also believed to have been bitten on the knee at Quogue Village Beach, a public beach east of Long Island.
A similar series of attacks in New York City last summer caused beach closures.
A Conservation Success Story
Experts say the rise in sand tiger shark numbers is due to a number of factors, including improved water quality and thriving bunker shark populations. fish that sharks eat.
Last year, researchers at Stony Brook University said the increase was a «conservation success story» and attributed it to ongoing work to clean up the water around Long Island. .
Gavin Naylor, director of the Florida Shark Research Program, said the shark population is «the result of some really great resource management strategies that have somewhat increased not only the shark population but also their prey.»
He said that swimmers on New York beaches should take precautions to avoid encountering sea creatures.
«People should always swim in groups. They should not swim too far from shore and should especially avoid bait,” Mr Naylor told CNN last month. .
A popular New York beach was closed on July 4 after drones spotted tiny sand tiger sharks swimming offshore.
Sand tiger sharks are not known to intentionally bite people, but they can attack if they mistakenly believe that swimmers are their fish prey.
It is believed that the rhythm of swimming and splashing can imitate underwater sounds made by fish, and this causes sharks to attack.
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