- A Long Island, New York, beach was temporarily closed on the Fourth of July after 50 sharks were spotted off the coast.
- After monitoring the sharks for over an hour, officials deemed the area safe and reopened the beach.
A beach in Long Island, New York, was shut down for over an hour on Tuesday when officials spotted 50 sharks swimming off of the coast.
The sharks were spotted by a drone patrol that was flying about 200 yards off Robert Moses Beach, The New York Post reported.
"Obviously, we did not open for swimming at 8 o'clock when lifeguards came on duty," Long Island Parks Regional Director George Gorman told The Post.
The sharks were sand tiger sharks and they're quite common off of Long Island, Gorman said. While it's not unusual that the sharks were swimming together in a large school, they're usually spotted alone.
The beach remained closed for about an hour and a half before officials finally deemed the area safe for beachgoers at around 9.30 a.m., he added.
There were two more possible shark attack incidents that took place off Long Island on the same day, ABC7 New York reported.
Two men in their 40s were injured in separate incidents at Quogue Village Beach and Fire Island Pines respectively, per ABC7 New York. It was reported that the first man was bitten on his right knee, while the second man was bitten on his hand.
These incidents come just a day after a 15-year-old boy was bitten on his toes and left heel while surfing off the coast of Fire Island, CNN reported.
The boy was able to swim to shore, where another beachgoer assisted him before Suffolk County Marine Bureau Officers arrived, CNN reported, citing the Suffolk County Police Department.
His injuries were not life-threatening, and he was brought to Good Samaritan University Hospital in West Islip, Long Island, for medical treatment, per CNN.
The shark attack on the 15-year-old is the first to be reported by Suffolk County authorities this summer, per CNN.
Still, the odds of being attacked or killed by a shark are 1 in 3.7 million, per USA Today.
"Governor Hochul and the New York State Legislature provided us with funds to purchase additional drones, as well as wave runners — which are personal watercraft — so that we can monitor the waters in front of the state park beaches," Gorman told Insider.
This is in addition to the lifeguards who are constantly surveying beaches and the waters to keep swimmers as safe as possible, he said.
"Our procedure is that if we have a shark sighting, we prohibit swimming — we get everybody out of the water. And after the last sighting, we wait an hour to ensure it is safe to reauthorize swimming," he added.
July 5, 2023: The story has been updated to reflect Gorman's comments.