A Long Island lifeguard was playing the role of victim in a water exercise Sunday when he was bitten by a shark, officials said.
The 4- to 5-foot-long shark bit Smith Point Beach lifeguard Zach Gallo in the chest and right arm, Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone said.
The victim was able to get out of the water without assistance, was bandaged and taken to a local hospital, Bellone said, according to News 12.
“He’s in very good spirits at Southside Hospital … getting some stitches,” Bellone said of Gallo, according to Newsday.
The beach was closed after the attack.
A second beach east of Smith Point, Cupsogue, was also closed Sunday “due to hazardous marine activity,” county parks officials said.
Three days earlier, nearby Jones Beach in Nassau County saw a swimmer suffering a “possible shark bite,” prompting county police to increase beach patrols ahead of the Fourth of July holiday weekend.
The city of Hempstead also formed a Shark Patrol after a fisherman spotted a 10-foot Mako shark over Memorial Day weekend about 11 miles west of Jones Beach.
The city of Hempstead also formed a Shark Patrol after a fisherman spotted a 10-foot Mako shark over Memorial Day weekend about 11 miles west of Jones Beach. Getty Images/iStockphoto
Shark attacks on Long Island “are extremely rare,” county officials said, but have become more frequent recently.
There have been more shark sightings in the past two years than in the entire previous decade combined.
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