Children bitten in shark attacks while swimming off Long Island

<p>Beaches on Long Island were forced to close Wednesday after sharks attacked two young children.</p>

News 12 Staff

Jul 19, 2018, 12:04 PM

Updated 2,114 days ago

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Beaches on Long Island were forced to close Wednesday after sharks attacked two young children.
There is no word on any of New Jersey's beaches closing following the incidents in Long Island.
A 12-year-old girl and a 13-year-old boy were both bitten by sharks while swimming in the ocean.
Once the incidents were confirmed as shark attacks, beaches were closed for the day.
The 12-year-old girl was bitten on the leg and is expected to be OK.
The other attack happened about four miles away and involved a 13-year-old boy on a boogie-board.
A lifeguard noticed him stumbling out of the water and came to his rescue.
He too is expected to be OK.
"EMS came and they took our dressings off because they wanted to look at the wound,” says Chief Lifeguard Craig Amarando. “That's when they confirmed also, not only was it a shark bite, but they found one of the teeth still inside the boy. So, the boy was very brave. He was alert the whole time. He was scared of course, but he was a brave boy."
The U.S. had the most unprovoked attacks in 2017, but not many in New Jersey.
Florida, South Carolina, Hawaii, and California had the most incidents.
Most people were surfing at the time of the attack.
According to experts, proportionally, the number of attacks isn't climbing.
As the population rises, so do the attacks.


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