Warnings issued about shark attacks on Florida beaches

Florida authorities warned beachgoers this Saturday about the presence of sharks along the Gulf Coast, following serious attacks on three individuals on Friday.

While patrolling the beaches of the west coast in boats, officials noticed an increased presence of sharks in the area known as the Panhandle, which includes the 18 westernmost counties of the state, reported Local 10.

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 (indicating 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 is even rarer for two events involving three people to occur in a single day," a spokesperson told the AP on Saturday.

"There is an astronomically low chance of that happening," the source emphasized.

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 sustained severe injuries to her abdomen and arm, and part of her arm had to be amputated.

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

When the rescuers and sheriff's deputies arrived at the scene, they found that one of the girls had serious 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 Friday's attacks, but there are more sharks in the Gulf of Mexico than in previous years, an expert stated.

According to experts, shark attacks are infrequent. Last year, there were 69 unprovoked bites worldwide, of which 10 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.