Woman bitten by shark in first New York City attack in years
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A flag warning beachgoers against swimming the day after a swimmer was bitten by a shark at Rockaway Beach in New York on Aug 8.
PHOTO: NYTIMES
NEW YORK – A 65-year-old woman was bitten by a shark on Monday afternoon at Rockaway Beach, the authorities said, in what appeared to be the first confirmed shark bite in New York City waters in decades.
The woman, Ms Tatyana Koltunyuk, was bitten on the left leg as she swam near Beach 59th Street, a spokesman for the New York City parks department said.
Ms Koltunyuk was swimming alone when lifeguards heard her screaming for help, according to a police report.
Lifeguards removed Ms Koltunyuk from the water, applied a tourniquet and administered other first aid, and emergency responders then took her to Jamaica Hospital in critical condition.
On Tuesday, her condition was listed as “serious but stable,” the police said.
“We hope for a full recovery for this swimmer,” parks department spokesman 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.”
The police report indicated that Ms Koltunyuk had lost about 9kg of flesh as a result of the bite, but pictures published online showed that while her wound was serious, that figure was probably a significant overestimate.
Lifeguards ordered everyone out of the water after Ms Koltunyuk, who parks officials initially said was 50, was bitten, and helicopter crews searched for sharks without spotting any.
The beach was closed for swimming and surfing on Tuesday.
Parks officials and experts said the shark bite was the first at Rockaway Beach “in recent memory”.
“I don’t think in my history, I’ve heard of that kind of injury in our waters despite the fact that I’ve worked with sharks for 30 years,” said Mr Hans Walters, a field scientist with the Wildlife Conservation Society’s New York Aquarium. “The injury itself is unusual.”
Mr Walters said the biting should not cause people to abandon their beach-going routines, but was a reminder that “our city butts up against the sharks’ home”.
“Sharks are our neighbours,” he added. “They live in our backyard. We have to be aware that they are there.”
There have been 20 unprovoked shark attacks in New York state since 1837, according to the Florida Museum’s International Shark Attack File, a database of all known shark attacks.
The biting on Monday was the first confirmed attack in New York City since the 1950s, according to the Global Shark Attack File, an unofficial database of such encounters. The last documented shark bite in the city listed in the database was in 1958, when a man was bitten by a harpooned shark after provoking it.
Dr Gavin Naylor, director of the Florida Programme for Shark Research, which maintains the International Shark Attack File, noted that bait fish, including bluefish and bunker fish, had become more plentiful in the Long Island region in recent years, and that the water quality appeared to be improving.
“That brings in a lot of animals that belong there that haven’t been there for a while,” he said. “And with that, we get the animals that prey on them.”
“We can expect that as the ecosystem recovers that we’re going to see a bit more of that,” he said, adding that people should learn more about the increased risks of being in the water.
Lifesaving equipment on the sand the day after a 65-year-old woman was bitten by a shark at Rockaway Beach in New York on Aug 8.
PHOTO: NYTIMES
It would be possible, Dr Naylor said, to identify the type of shark that bit Ms Koltunyuk once more was known about her injury and the depth of the water where she was swimming.
At midday on Tuesday, Beach 59th Street was largely deserted. A police helicopter whirred overhead, and police vehicles moved slowly down the boardwalk, their lights flashing. Red flags prohibiting swimming flapped in the wind along the length of the shore.
Nonetheless, a few beachgoers were making the most of the sunny day.
Ms Nancy Ugalde was set up on a colourful beach blanket with two relatives. They had planned to swim, she said, and were alarmed to hear that a woman had been bitten by a shark.
Ms Ugalde, 58, said Beach 59th Street was her favourite stretch of the Rockaways, a quiet area that is secluded from the crowds that gather farther away. She had never heard of a shark attack in her 30 years visiting the beach.
“I’m not going in there today until they say it’s OK to go in,” Ms Ugalde said. “It’s very scary.”
The last known potential shark bite at Rockaway Beach was in 2017, when surfer Michah Behrend sustained a foot injury that required 40 stitches. NYTIMES
