Two Children Were Possibly Bitten By Sharks Off Long Island
Just off the coast of Fire Island, Long Island, in New York, multiple reports came poring in on Wednesday saying that a 12-year-old girl, Lola Pollina, and a 13-year-old boy were involved in a possible shark attack. The young girl was playing in the water at Sailor’s Haven beach and the boy was stated to be boogie boarding off Atlantique Beach when the alleged shark attacks occurred, reports the New Jersey Real Time News.
According to reports, these attacks happened around noon. The two beaches where the children were hurt are less than five miles apart. Journalists at the New Jersey Real Time News were informed to the extent of the children’s injuries. Both of them suffered wounds to their legs, and no injuries were life threatening.
Officials closed the beaches immediately following the incidents. A spokesperson from the National Park Service told reporters that neither of these incidents has been confirmed as shark attacks. These same officials who closed the beaches claim no shark was spotted by witnesses. Examiners did, however, remove a tooth from the boy’s leg, and are currently further investigating.
Little Lola Pollina says that the water was so cold that she did not feel pain when the attack occurred. She also says there is no doubt in her mind that it was in fact a shark that attacked her, biting down on her leg. Waist deep in the water and somewhere around 10 feet from shore when the bite occurred, Lola said she saw an orange-like body, just under a foot long, before she saw blood and ran from the water toward a lifeguard.
“It was a ten-inch orangey body and then there was a fin and then I got out, and my leg was bloody. We went to the lifeguards, we ran up to them and they kind of bandaged it.”
Barbara Pollina, the girl’s mother, told reporters that she could see her daughter “thrashing” in the water, clearly in distress. She was taken to Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center.
“I saw a lot of thrashing and her trying to get to me.”
Meanwhile, only four and a half miles from where Lola was injured, the boy victim was being taken to Southside Hospital for sustaining similar injuries while playing in the waves. Experts in marine biology are saying that the cleaner oceans in New York are the perfect hunting conditions for sharks looking to feed, and therefore the sharks are being attracted closer to the shoreline.
Governor Andrew Cuomo said Wednesday that he deployed environmental conservation officers to investigate the waters off Fire Island, says CBS New York.
