Officials in Florida Urge Caution After Three People Bitten by Sharks off Coast

Officials in Florida are advising beachgoers to remain cautious near Walton County beaches after three people sustained injuries after two separate shark attacks on Friday afternoon. Shortly after 1 p.m. Friday, Walton County Sheriff's Office received reports of a 45-year-old woman sustaining injuries from a shark in Founders Lane in Watersound Beach, Florida.

After swimming past the first sandbar with her husband, she encountered a shark and received significant trauma to her midsection and pelvic area. Her lower left arm was also amputated. After treatment on the beach, emergency personnel airlifted her to a nearby hospital, where she remains in critical condition.

Beachgoers notified emergency responders of a second attack just two hours later and four miles east of the first attack near Sandy Shores Court. Two teenage girls were swimming in shallow water within the first sandbar with a group of friends when they experienced a shark attack.

Medical personnel also airlifted one girl to Ascension Sacred Heart Pensacola after suffering from significant injuries to an upper and lower extremity. She also remains in critical condition and has lost her left hand and a portion of her right leg. The second girl in this second attack received flesh wounds to her foot and has been treated and released from the hospital.

How Emergency Officials Are Responding to the Increase in Shark Attacks