Three injured in shark attacks at Florida beach

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File photo of a bull shark in the Bahamas
Image: Albert kok.

Friday, June 7, 2024 

In Walton County, Florida, three shark attacks occurred on June 7. The first attack injured a 45-year-old woman, while the second and third left two teenagers injured.

Around 1:20 p.m. local time (1820 UTC), Elizabeth Foley of Virginia was swimming with her husband off Watersound Beach, near Founders Land. She was treated on-scene and then airlifted to HCA Fort Walton-Destin Hospital, reportedly "in critical condition." Her lower left arm had to be amputated.

After Foley's attack, Walton County Sheriff Mike Adkinson ordered the closure of local beaches but the order was not fully enacted by the time of the second and third attacks.

Around 3:00 p.m. local time (2000 UTC), at Rosemary Beach — four miles east of where the first attack took place — Ann Blair Gribbin, her daughters Lulu (15) and Ellie (17) and friends were on vacation from Mountain Brook, Alabama. Lulu and her friends were on a sandbar in waist-high water, looking for sand dollars, when Lulu was bitten on her left hand and right leg. The Guardian reported "a man and a boy," noticing Lulu's injuries, "pulled her out of the water" and carried her to the shore. Ann, in a statement, claimed Lulu lost two-thirds of her blood. After receiving initial treatment from vacationing doctors, she was airlifted to Ascension Sacred Heart, where she was placed on a ventilator and underwent surgery. In her statement, Ann shared that Lulu's first words once coming off the ventilator and regaining consciousness were, "I made it."

Another teenager was also attacked around the same time and location as Lulu Gribbin.

Sources

• Gloria Oladipo, Ramon Antonio Vargas. "Teen survives Florida shark attack but loses hand and leg: ‘I made it’" — The Guardian, June 10, 2024
• "3 bit by sharks in 90 minutes at Florida beaches". YouTube, Posted on June 10, 2024 by WRAL
• Monica Harkins. "Louisville vacationers, shark expert express shock at rash of attacks over the weekend in Florida" — WDRB, June 10, 2024
• Collin Bestor, Cheryl McCloud and Dan Rorabaugh. "Are beaches open after 2 shark attacks in 1 day in Walton County, Florida? How are victims?" — Pensacola News Journal, June 8, 2024