No swimming or surfing will be allowed at Rockaway Beach on Tuesday after a 50-year-old woman was bitten by a shark late Monday afternoon, according to the New York City parks department.
A shark bit the woman on her left leg as she swam near Beach 59th Street, a spokeswoman for the department said. Lifeguards removed her from the water and administered first aid. Emergency responders took the woman, who was in critical condition, to Jamaica Hospital.
Lifeguards ordered everyone to exit the water, and helicopters searched for sharks but did not spot any.
“We hope for a full recovery for this swimmer,” the department spokeswoman, Meghan Lalor, said in a statement. “Though this was a frightening event, we want to remind New Yorkers that shark bites in Rockaway are extremely rare.”
A spokesman for the New York City Police Department said on Tuesday morning that the woman was in “serious but stable” condition.
Park officials said that before Monday’s attack, there had been no reports of shark bites on Rockaway Beach “in recent memory.”
All of Rockaway’s beaches were closed for one day last July because of shark sightings, leaving only the boardwalk open to beachgoers.
And five shark attacks occurred on Long Island over two weeks last summer, according to The Long Island Press.
A surfer may have been bitten at Rockaway Beach in 2017, according to Patch.com, which reported that he had to get 40 stitches in his right foot after the incident.
A baby great white shark named Bruin was spotted near where the man had been surfing, but one expert told Patch that the wounds didn’t appear to have been caused by a shark.
Ed Shanahan contributed reporting.
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