East Farmingdale, NY- Two Suffolk County Beaches reopened Monday, after a lifeguard was attacked during a shark training exercise the day before at Smith Point County Beach. Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone announced the closure of Smith Point County Park and Cupsogue County Beach on Sunday just a short while after a lifeguard was bitten in the water. Multiple news outlets say the 33-year-old lifeguard suffered non-life-threatening injuries to his chest and right arm.
Sunday’s shark attack at Smith Point was the second confirmed shark attack in the past week on Long Island- another attack happened a few days earlier Nassau County. Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone said that lifeguards are actively patrolling “for sharks and other marine life by utilizing drones, jet skis, paddle boards and surfboards in addition to monitoring from the shore”.
On Long Island shark sightings have increased over the past few years but experts say shark attacks are still considered rare.
Photo: A great white shark swims past a boat on a shark watching boat off the Massachusetts’ coast of Cape Cod on Aug. 17, 2021. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)
By Brett Levine
