From late Thursday morning to 12:30 p.m., at least one shark attacked up to three victims within South Padre Island’s city limits, Art Hurtado, chief of Cameron County’s beach patrol, said Thursday.
At 11 a.m., South Padre Island police officers and firefighters were treating a man suffering “a severe shark bite to the leg” off the 4100 block of Gulf Boulevard before rushing him to a hospital, Nikki Soto, the Island’s spokesperson, said in a statement.
By 12:30 p.m., officials had responded to two more attacks, Hurtado said.
“It’s extremely rare,” he said of shark attacks along the Island’s shallow coastline. “This is very unusual, especially for this area.”
At 2 p.m., a Texas Department of Public Safety helicopter and boat were tracking a shark, while officials warned revelers to stay out of the waters, Hurtado said.
At 3 p.m., he spotted the shark, describing it as 5 to 6 feet long, off Isla Blanca Park, he said.
”Currently, the South Padre Island Beach Patrol, fire and police departments (are) patrolling the shoreline and utilizing drones,” Soto said at 3:30 p.m.
Hurtado said the attacks marked the most serious shark bites he’s handled.
“It’s a very rare occurrence,” he said. “It’s not in the ecosystem.”
four years ago, a shark left a swimmer with “minor, minor injuries” in the area, he said.
Nereyda Bazaldua of Harlingen told the Valley Morning Star on Thursday that her daughter was one of the several attacked, but was not seriously injured.
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