A shark viciously attacked a paddleboarder at a popular beach spot leaving the man with a bloody four-inch gash on their leg.
This was just the latest in a string of shark attacks on Long Island, USA, that have taken place this summer.
The paddleboarder, a 41-year-old man who wasn’t identified, had been in the water off Smith Point County Park, on Wednesday when the terrifying attack took place.
Ambulances rushed him to a local hospital and he was thought to be okay.
Despite that, he suffered a four-inch gash in one of his legs following the attack, local officials confirmed.
The attack took place around 7:30am local time, when no lifeguards were on duty, Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone said.
The attack is the second to take place at Smith Point in the last 10 days and the beach has now been shut to the public until further notice.
Local officials warned the spate of attacks could be something of a new normal in the area.
Executive Bellone said: “I think it is an indication that what we’re looking at is something of a new normal in that sharks … are closer to shore than they’ve been.”
Bellone added that the paddleboarder tried to swing a punch at the shark as it attacked him, thinking it was a sand tiger shark.
According to the man’s account the shark circled him before a wave pushed him closer to shore.
He made it to shore and was rushed to hospital.
A spokeswoman for Bellone said that whilst attacks were rare they were taking measures to ensure people’s safety, including arming lifeguards with jet skies, drones and paddleboards.
Ten days ago, a lifeguard participating in a training exercise was attacked in the same area and the four-to-five foot long shark tried to take a chunk out of his chest.
The lifeguard, 10-year veteran Zack Gallo, was playing the role of victim during that training exercise when he was attacked, Bellone said in a news conference at the time, adding that the shark also bit Gallo's right hand as the lifeguard tried to fend it off.
He was able to make it ashore with the help of his fellow lifeguards.
This is the most recent attack in a string in the area that has seen sightings of sharks at a number of popular beaches.
The local town of Hempstead said it had 21 confirmed sightings at its beaches in 2020 and 29 in 2021 after having just two confirmed shark sightings between 1998 and 2020.
Experts described the recent attacks as an unprecedented escalation for the area which had historically seen much lower rates.
