A woman had part of her arm amputated and two other teens were hospitalized after back to back shark attacks off the Florida panhandle on Friday, according to local officials.
The woman, 45, was swimming at Watersound Beach in Walton County around 1:20 p.m. when a shark bit her while she and her husband were just beyond the sandbar, South Walton Fire District Chief Ryan Crawford told reporters.
The shark bite caused “significant trauma” to her midsection and she had to have part of her left arm amputated, Crawford said, according to ABC News. She was airlifted to HCA Fort Walton-Destin Hospital in critical condition.
Just 90 minutes later, about four miles down the beach, two girls, 15 and 17, were also attacked while swimming with their group of friends in waist-deep water, officials said.
One of the girls suffered “significant injuries” to her upper leg and hand and was airlifted to Ascension Sacred Heart Pensacola Hospital in critical condition, Crawford said.
The other teen had minor injuries to her foot who was also taken by EMS to an area hospital.
“This is an anomaly … everything from it being three victims, to where it’s at,” Walton County Sheriff Michael A. Adkinson, Jr. told reporters. “All we can do is respond, control, and mitigate what we can.”
Officials decided to close the ocean for swimmers after both incidents.
Adkinson Jr. said the last shark attack in the county was back in 2021. The last fatal attack was in 2005.