A 68-year-old man was bitten by a shark on Ocracoke Island on Wednesday afternoon — the seventh attack off the North Carolina coast in the past month.
The man, who has not yet been identified, was swimming 25 to 30 feet offshore in waist-deep water when he sustained injuries to his left lower torso and hip, lower left leg and both hands.
The man was airlifted to Pitt Memorial Hospital in Greenville, according to the National Park Service.
Lifeguards at Ocracoke Beach contacted sheriffs around 12:10 p.m. Wednesday. The man was swimming directly in front of a lifeguard stand when he was bitten by the shark, which was 6 to 7 feet in length, according to Hyde County officials.
The incident comes after a shark attack Friday on the Outer Banks.
Of the six North Carolina attacks in June, two teenagers bitten while swimming in Oak Island received the most serious injuries. Both had arms amputated.
North Carolina has averaged about three shark attacks per year in the past decade, according to the International Shark Attack File at the Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville.
Experts have suggested a number of potential sources of the uptick — including more people in the water, warmer waters and rising shark populations.
The upcoming Fourth of July holiday weekend is one of the busiest of the summer for North Carolina beaches, according to Wit Tuttell, executive director of the state tourism office. He said that the office has not seen significant cancellations and does not anticipate a drop in business after the attacks.
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By Spencer Parts – The News Observer (Raleigh, N.C.) (TNS)
©2015 The News Observer (Raleigh, N.C.)
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