North Carolina Teenagers Seriously Injured in Shark Attacks

Here’s a beach goer’s nightmare, multiplied: two separate shark attacks happened within about an hour of each other around the same swath of beach, causing a pair of teens to each lose a limb and remain in critical condition. Shudder.

Details, including what, if anything prompted the attacks that happened earlier today in Oak Island, North Carolina, are still under investigation, reports AP Online.

Oak Island Mayor Betty Wallace told WECT-6 that the first victim, a girl, lost part of her arm and could lose her left leg. Just over an hour later, a 16-year-old boy also was attacked by a shark and was airlifted to a hospital, Wallace said. He lost an arm.

Local officials sent an all-terrain-vehicle to get everyone out of the water, and the Brunswick County Sheriff’s office was planning to have a helicopter patrol the coastline, the mayor said.

Wallace said Sunday evening that she had no further information on the girl’s condition. The girl is not from Oak Island but was visiting family, the mayor said.