North Carolina Teen Bitten By Shark, Authorities On Alert After Spate Of Attacks

A North Carolina teen was bitten by a shark in the state’s popular Outer Banks just one day after another man was bitten, a series of attacks that have put authorities on alert and threatened to hurt the area’s tourism just ahead of one of the busiest weeks of the year.

On Saturday, an 18-year-old man was swimming with a group of people when a shark attacked. The teen had to be airlifted to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital with bites to his right calf, buttocks, and hands.

The North Carolina shark attack came just one day after a 47-year-old man was bitten on Hatteras Island. The man sustained injuries to his lower back and right leg and was also flown to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital.

As USA Today reported, there have been a number of other attacks in the area this month.

“Several children have been the victims of shark attacks along North Carolina’s coast this month including a 13-year old girl and 16-year old boy who both lost limbs about 90 minutes apart at Oak Island,” the report stated.

One of the victims said the attack was unprompted.

“I didn’t see it coming,” Hunter Treschl said.

“I was just in about waist-deep water, playing with my cousin … and felt this kind of hit on my left leg … like it was a big fish coming near you or something,” the 16-year-old added. “Then it just kind of hit my arm. That was the first I saw it, when it was biting up my left arm.”

But Hunter was determined to stay positive.

“I’ve lost my arm obviously, so I have kind of two options,” he said. “I can try to live my life the way I was and make an effort to do that even though I don’t have an arm or I can kind of just let this be completely debilitating and bring my life down and ruin it.”

The shark attacks come just as the busy July 4th tourism season is approaching, putting local officials on high alert. Shark sightings have already impacted tourism a bit further north in Virginia Beach. Last week the owner of Chesapeake Outdoor Adventures was forced to cancel a kayak tour after a guide spotted a nine-foot bull shark trailing dolphins. The shark attacks in North Carolina have been extremely rare, said George Burgess, a biologist with the Florida Museum of Natural History. He said that it is unusual to have attacks so close together.

“Having a series of injuries so close to each other in time and space makes this unusual,” Burgess said. “It might suggest a single shark has been involved.”

The North Carolina teen attacked by the shark on Saturday was listed in serious condition.

[Image via Getty Images/Scott Olson]