VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. — Two men suffered from shark bites at New Smyrna Beach over the course of two consecutive days, according to reports.
The first attack happened around 3 p.m. Friday near the south jetty of the beach, according to WESH-TV citing Volusia County Beach Safety officials. The victim, a man in his 20s who was surfing when the shark bit him, was hospitalized with non-life-threatening but serious injuries to his foot.
The second attack happened around 2 p.m. Saturday in the same area of the beach, according to a report from Fox 35 Orlando. The victim was a 48-year-old man who was sitting in the water near the south jetty. Safety officials say the man suffered from minor back injuries, but he refused hospitalization.
These were the second and third shark attacks reported this year at New Smyrna Beach, a place that is frequently considered the world leader in shark bites, according to reporting from The Daytona Beach News-Journal. The shark bites, most of which are non-life-threatening, reportedly tend to happen when sharks feeding near Ponce Inlet mistake surfers or swimmers for fish.
Volusia County Beach Safety officials cited in the News-Journal's reporting suggest that visitors to New Smyrna swim in front of lifeguard towers: both so that lifeguards can more easily rescue swimmers from rip currents, which they consider a bigger safety threat than the sharks, and so that lifeguards can call people out of the water if they see large groups of baitfish or birds diving into the water. Those are typically signs that sharks are close by.
