On Thursday, August 18, two individuals were bitten by sharks while swimming off the coast of Myrtle Beach in South Carolina.
During the first day of her family vacation, Karren Sites from Pittsburgh was bitten by a shark while swimming in shallow water with her 8-year-old grandson. The shark approached her and bit her arm, prompting her to push it away, as she recounted to WPDE.
Her grandson, Brian, witnessed the terrifying incident just 10 feet away, explaining, “I couldn’t even see the shark coming up, but all I saw was the shark jumped up and it didn’t even bite all the way, like I saw the movement of the tail go to the side and then she screamed a little bit and as soon as she touched it, it fell into the water.”
Sites received medical treatment, including surgery and hundreds of stitches, for her injuries sustained during the attack.
Marine Science professor Daniel Abel confirmed that the wound was “very clearly a shark bite” based on its characteristics.
Later that same day, another individual was also bitten by a shark just blocks away, as reported by the Myrtle Beach Police Department to WPDE.
Further details about the second incident were not immediately available.
Despite the attacks occurring in the afternoon, Abel advised against swimming during dawn or dusk when few people are in the water, and when sharks are actively feeding. He also cautioned against swimming near schools of fish or fishing piers.
While Sites expressed her intention to return to the beach once cleared by doctors, her grandson stated that he will avoid the ocean for the foreseeable future, saying, “I’ll sit on the sand but I ain’t going in the water.”
