The first victim of the shark attack that occurred at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina on Monday was a woman who was enjoying her holidays with her 8-year-old grandson.
Karren Sites, from Pittsburgh, was standing in waist-deep water when she felt the shark’s sharp teeth having grabbed her arm.
She was standing in waist-deep water with her grandson, Brian, 8, who was enjoying his first full day of vacation. She said: ‘I just felt something, I guess, bite me and there was a shark on my arm. I was only in waist-deep water. I kept pushing at it to get it off my arm and it did’
Karren Sites told WPDE: “I just felt something, I guess, bite me and there was a shark on my arm. I was only in waist-deep water. I kept pushing at it to get it off my arm and it did.”
Her shocked grandson who witnessed the scene said: “I couldn’t even see the shark coming up, but all I saw was the shark jumped up and it didn’t even bite all the way.
“I saw the movement of the tail go to the side and then she screamed a little bit and as soon as she touched it, it fell into the water.
“As soon as she touched it, it fell into the water.”
The woman was taken to the hospital where she had to get hundreds of stitches.
Local news outlet MyrtleBeachSC reported that it is unclear if the same shark was involved in both instances.
Daniel Abel, a professor of Marine Science at Coastal Carolina University, said it was a shark bite based on the shape of the wound.
Mr Abel said: “It’s very clearly a shark bite, when you look at the arc of the tooth marks and the damage that was done.
“My sympathies to the victim, that’s a horrendous thing to go through”.
