Multiple swimmers in Texas and Florida hoping to spend a relaxing day at the beach on the July 4 holiday instead found themselves fending off sharks.
Four swimmers celebrating Independence Day on South Padre Island, Texas, encountered the same shark, leaving two with serious bite wounds and two others with minor injuries, according to Cameron County.
One of the victims, a woman, suffered a large bite wound on her calf. The second bite victim, a man, was also bitten on the leg. A third victim, an 18-year-old woman, reported minor injuries after being grazed by the shark. A fourth person was reportedly injured while assisting the female bite victim, as CNN reported. Three of the victims were transported to the hospital.
A video posted by X user @janelpz30 captured the aftermath of one of the attacks, showing the large shark lingering near the shore while the woman who was bitten lay in the shallow waves, bleeding profusely. Onlookers reacted quickly, applying a makeshift tourniquet just below her knee.
Mean while in South Padre Island a tragic Fourth of July for some 💔 pic.twitter.com/onx10cvwZ0
— J LpZ (@janelpz30) July 4, 2024
CNN reported that it was two off-duty Border Patrol agents who pulled the woman from the water and applied a tourniquet to her leg.
Social media poster Skylar Sullivent identified the woman who was bitten as her mother, Tabatha Sullivent, and said her father, Cary Sullivent, was also injured. She said her mother was in the hospital in stable condition, but her father had been treated and released. A GoFundMe account has been set up to help the family with medical expenses.
The Texas Department of Public Safety deployed a helicopter to the scene, which used deterrent measures to keep the shark from getting too close to shore following the attacks.
“DPS remained on scene until the shark was no longer a threat,” DPS spokesperson Lt. Chris Olivarez said, per CNN.
Meanwhile, at New Smyrna Beach in Florida, a 21-year-old man from Ohio became another victim of a shark attack when he was bitten on the foot while playing football in knee-deep water. The man was promptly taken to a hospital and is expected to recover fully, according to Volusia County Beach Safety Ocean Rescue.
The incidents have sparked concern among beach authorities, who have intensified patrols and surveillance efforts using drones and aerial support to monitor further shark activity in South Padre Island, per CNN.
Shark attacks, while rare, can occur due to various factors, including mistaken identity, as sharks hunt for food. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department emphasized that such encounters are unusual in Texas, where fewer than 10 shark bites have been reported since 2012.
However, according to the latest findings from the International Shark Attack File at the Florida Museum of Natural History, the United States has once again been named as the global leader in unprovoked shark attacks.
In 2023, there were 69 reported incidents of unprovoked shark bites worldwide. Alarmingly, more than half of these incidents, 36 cases, accounting for 52% of unprovoked bites, took place within the U.S.
