By The Associated Press and Antonio Planas -
NBC News
Two bathers on the popular beach of Myrtle Beach, in South Carolina, were attacked twice by sharks.
Everything happened last Monday: both have serious injuries that endanger their lives, the authorities reported.
Myrtle Beach police said in a statement that the first attack occurred near the floodwaters off 82nd Avenue North around 11:17 am.
The second swimmer was bitten about 12:35 pm in the waters off 75th Avenue North.
The injuries in both cases
"were later confirmed as caused by a shark,"
the uniformed officer added.
“Our beach patrol works with the University of Florida Shark Research Program to identify marine animal bites, specifically these animals.”
A police spokesman said Friday that the women's injuries were not life-threatening and that the victims.
People walk along the beach on May 29, 2021 in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.Getty Images
One of the victims suffered a serious injury to the forearm and the second a more superficial bite to the leg.
The attacks occurred half a mile apart and police said there is no way of knowing if they are related.
The ABC affiliate in South Carolina reported that Karren Sites, of Pittsburgh, needed hundreds of stitches after being bitten.
She claimed that she was the victim in the second shark attack.
[A woman dies after being attacked by her five dogs in rural Iowa]
She had been on her first day of vacation with her 8-year-old grandson and was waist-deep in the water when the attack occurred.
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“I felt something bite me and I saw a shark on my arm.
… I kept pushing to get it off my arm until it was gone,” she added.
Brian Sites recounted hearing his grandmother scream.
"I couldn't even see the shark approach,
all I saw was that the shark jumped and didn't bite at all
," the minor reported.
Shark attacks on humans are extremely rare.
Although millions of people enjoy the water, only 47 shark bites were recorded on US beaches in 2021, according to the International Shark Attack File maintained by the University of Florida.
[The young woman attacked by a shark in Florida tells how she saved her life: “I hit him in the head and put my fingers in his eyes”]
Last year there were four recorded shark attacks in South Carolina.
Florida led the nation with 28, the group said.
Last month there were several shark attacks off Long Island on the same day.
Security plan against shark attacks on New York beaches reinforced
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On July 6, a 49-year-old Arizona man was bitten on the wrist and buttocks off Seaview Beach around 6 p.m., Suffolk County police said.
That same day, about 20 miles away, a shark bit a
paddleboarder
near Smith Point, which, like Seaview, is on Fire Island, according to authorities.
The person was knocked off his south board about 7:30 am and suffered a 4-inch cut to his leg, Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone said.
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