Swimmer apparently bitten by shark at Jones Beach on Long Island
JONES BEACH, New York (WABC) -- A swimmer suffered a minor injury after he was apparently bitten by a shark at Jones Beach on Friday afternoon.
The man was bitten in the left foot at Jones Beach State Park Field 6 sometime after noon. It happened on a busy day when over 100,000 people came to the beach to watch the air show practice.
The victim was taken to Nassau University Medical Center with a non-life-threatening injury. The wound was described as a deep shark tooth-like shape on the bottom of the man's foot.
Jones Beach State Park Lifeguards and Emergency Medical technicians responded immediately.
Eyewitness News spoke with someone who was in the water when the swimmer was hurt and he said he didn't realize the severity of the situation at first.
"It was like kind of close to the guy and I just see him getting out of the water and going up to the post and to the lifeguard, it didn't really seem like anything happened and he was holding his foot and they came and got him, but yeah, then they were like 'everyone get out' and cleared everything," said beachgoer Tyler Grossman.
Swimming was suspended while officials searched the beachfront for sharks or any other dangerous marine life.
After no sharks or other dangerous marine life were located for an hour, swimmers were allowed back into the water up to their waists.
The incident remains under investigation.
It comes after a shark was spotted earlier Friday morning around 10:30 a.m. at Rockaway Beach in Queens. Swimming was suspended for an hour.
The Parks Department used drones and said at least three sharks were spotted at Rockaway Beach on Thursday.
In the event of a sighting, the city's protocol is to close the beach a half mile in each direction for an hour. If there's more than one shark, the entire beach is closed.
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