'She was doing an odd backstroke': Del Mar Beach closed after SHARK ATTACKS 50-yr-old California woman
DEL MAR, CALIFORNIA: A beach restriction has been imposed after a lady was bitten by a shark off Southern California's famed Del Mar Beach on Friday, November 4 morning. The popular beach was closed after the shark attack was reported near the 17th St beach at about 10 am on Friday, November 4.
According to Jon Edelbrock, the beach's chief lifeguard, the 50-year-old female swimmer was in waist-deep water with another swimmer when an on-duty lifeguard noticed the woman with "an odd backstroke," and the other swimmer was waving her arms, looking distressed. When the lifeguards arrived, they dragged the swimmer onto the beach and discovered that her injuries were consistent with a shark bite in the thigh, as per reports by CNN and FOX 5 San Diego.
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Edelbrock said, that the lifeguards stopped the bleeding from punctures and lacerations, and the victim was later transported to Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla in stable condition. Authorities said the apparent attack happened five days after the carcass of an 8-foot juvenile great white shark that seemed to have been damaged by a huge fishing hook washed up on Torrey Pines State Beach in San Diego.
A shark bite has never occurred at Del Mar Beach and is just the fourth instance in the county in the last 15 years, according to Edelbrock. The beach and water access north and south of 17th Street off Coast Blvd have been restricted for the next 48 hours, with a reopening scheduled for Sunday around 9 am. Lifeguards conducted a sweep of the surrounding water and discovered no sharks. They will do drone flyovers and patrol the area from dawn to dusk this weekend in search of sharks, they said.
Shark attacks in San Diego have a long history
Serious shark attacks are still uncommon in the San Diego area, however, a few have occurred in recent years. Keane Hayes, 13, of Encinitas, was mauled by a great white shark while lobster diving off the coast of his seaside city on September 29, 2018. Despite being gravely injured, the youngster recovered after surgery for a wound that ran across the left side of his body and head, from his upper back and chest to his arm and the side of his face, according to his doctors.
Leeanne Ericson, 35, of Vista, was seriously injured in a shark attack on April 29, 2017, when she swam in the surf about an hour before sunset off the shore of San Onofre Beach on the Camp Pendleton grounds. Ericson lived despite the sea predator ripping off much of her right buttocks and thigh.