They warn about shark attacks on Florida beaches.

Authorities in Florida warned bathers this Saturday about the presence of sharks on the Gulf of Mexico coast, after three people suffered serious attacks on Friday.

While patrolling the beaches of the west coast in boats, officers noticed an increase in the presence of sharks in the so-called Panhandle area, which includes the 18 westernmost counties of the State, as reported by Local 10 newspaper.

The authorities even temporarily closed several beaches on Friday after a woman and two teenagers were injured in shark attacks in Walton County.

The beaches reopened on Saturday, but with red flags (high-risk conditions) and purple flags (indicating the presence of dangerous marine life) warning of the danger.

"Please swim carefully today, respect the Gulf, stay hydrated, and take care of your loved ones," said the Walton Fire Department on social media.

"It's even rarer for two events involving three people to occur in one day," a spokesman told the AP agency on Saturday.

"The source emphasized that the chances of that happening are astronomically low."

The first attack occurred on Friday afternoon when a woman was bitten by a shark near WaterSound Beach, reported the Walton County Sheriff's Office. The woman suffered serious injuries to her abdomen and arm, leading to part of her arm being amputated.

Less than two hours later, firefighters responded to another beach about 6.4 kilometers east of the first attack after receiving multiple reports of a teenage girl injured by a shark. Two teenagers were in waist-deep water with a group of friends when they were attacked, according to the South Walton Fire District.

When the paramedics and sheriff's deputies arrived at the scene, they discovered that one of the girls had significant injuries on the upper part of her leg and on one hand. The other teenager had minor injuries on one of her feet.

There is no way to know if it was one shark or two different ones involved in the attacks on Friday, but there are more sharks in the Gulf of Mexico than in previous years, according to an expert.

According to experts, shark attacks are rare. Last year, there were 69 unprovoked bites worldwide, and 10 of them were fatal, according to the International Shark Attack File at the University of Florida.

This figure is higher than the recent average of six deaths per year.