A 50-year-old woman was bitten by a shark and suffered a gruesome leg injury while swimming at Rockaway Beach Monday evening, according to officials and sources.
The woman was attacked in the water near Beach 59th Street just before 6 p.m., according to the city Parks Department, who said the incident was the first known shark bite at Rockaway Beach in recent memory.
Lifeguards raced to the injured swimmer, pulling her from the water and administering first aid before EMS arrived.
Rescuers applied a tourniquet to the woman’s leg, which was bleeding profusely, sources said.
She was rushed to Jamaica Hospital in critical condition, officials said.
Other swimmers were ordered to get out of the water.
The NYPD searched the area by helicopter but didn’t locate any sharks.
A 50-year-old woman suffered a “major injury” from an apparent shark attack at Rockaway Beach. Peter Gerber
The woman sustained a gash on her leg just before 6 p.m. on Monday.
“We hope for a full recovery for this swimmer,” the parks department said in a statement.
“Though this was a frightening event, we want to remind New Yorkers that shark bites in Rockaway are extremely rare. We remain vigilant in monitoring the beach and always clear the water when a shark is spotted.”
The FDNY previously said the swimmer suffered a “major injury” before the parks department provided more information late Monday.
The incident happened in the water near the Beach 59th Street entrance of the Queens beach Peter GerberA member of the NYPD’s Technical Assistance Response Unit (TARU) was spotted flying a drone Monday night at the beach where the woman sustained her injury.
The department, along with the FDNY, will also deploy the high-flying gadgets in the Rockaways on Tuesday to scan the waters for sharks, sources said.
Rockaway Beach will have a delayed opening of at least 11 a.m., which could be reassessed based on conditions, officials said.
Rescuers applied a tourniquet to the woman’s leg, which was bleeding heavily, sources said.
The victim was rushed to the hospital following the incident. Peter Gerber
Authorities searched for the shark using drones, but did not find anything. Peter Gerber
Authorities preliminarily believe the encounter was a shark attack, sources said. Peter GerberFurther west at Coney Island Beach, the NYPD has been using shark-monitoring drones since the beginning of the summer.
Shark sightings have become more common in recent years in Queens and on Long Island.
In June, swimmers were forced to flee the water for an hour due to a shark sighting in the Hammels section of Rockaway Beach, CBS 2 reported at the time.
“The shark was probably 50 yards out, and they called for everybody to get out of the water,” Brooklyn resident Chip Newell told the station in June of the past sighting.
“It was a brown fin. Definitely wasn’t a dolphin … There were a lot of helicopters here within a matter of probably 15 minutes. It was pretty crazy.”
The Parks Department was forced to close Rockaway Beach for a day in July 2022 amid a heat wave due to shark sightings, but ff confirmed, it would be the first shark attack in the area since 1953.
There have been multiple reported shark attacks on Long Island this summer.
