According to media reports Sunday, an 11-year-old boy was bitten by a shark Saturday afternoon.
As reported by Fox News, Atlantic Beach Fire Chief Adam Snyder said first responders were called to Fort Macon State Park just west of the bath house at 2:34 p.m. for the reported shark bite.
Snyder said the Carteret County boy was attacked while surfing. He suffered “deep wounds” to his left foot and was transported to a local hospital for treatment. The size of the shark is unknown at this time.
Snyder said the beach was never closed during the incident which he described as “a case of mistaken identity.”
As Fox reports, the incident marks the second time a person was bitten by a shark in Atlantic Beach this summer. Earlier in June, authorities said an 18-year-old suffered bites to his hands and wrist after being bitten in 3-foot-deep water.
North Carolina experienced an increase in shark attacks in 2015 with a record-breaking eight bites for the state over the course of the year. Florida experienced 30 attacks in 2015, contributing to the 98 shark attacks worldwide last year, the highest number of all-time according to theInternational Shark Attack File (ISAF). Of those attacks, 59 occurred in the United States.
The beach is expected to remain open.