On a beach in North Carolina, two teens were attacked by sharks in separate incidents less than 90 minutes apart from each other.  In the first incident a 12-year-old girl from Asheboro, North Carolina was bitten on her arm. Shortly thereafter a 16-year-old boy from Colorado Springs was attacked in an almost identical incident just two miles away.

Both kids were airlifted to hospitals with life threatening injuries.  In each case the shark had severed their arm and took it clean off.  The girl’s arm was amputated below the elbow. The boy’s below the shoulder.  Both were in waist-deep water just 20 yards off shore, in a stretch of beach that is a popular fishing spot.

Thankfully, both survived their ordeal. “The key to the success . . . was the fact that bystanders on the beach with both patients gave very quick first-aid” says Brian Watts, emergency services director for Brunswick County.  *1  It’s quite unusual for attacks like this to happen let alone so close together — both in time and proximity.  While officials have no way of telling whether the same shark is responsible for both attacks, my hunch would be to lean that way.  Officials believe the likely culprit is either a larger bull shark, or tiger shark.

1. Mary Bowerman, “Dramatic Scene After Shark Attacks,” USA Today, June 26, 2015, p. 3A