Two separate shark incidents occurred at beaches in the Brazilian city of Recife. Both victims survived but lost a part of a leg.
The first attack occurred at Piedade Beach on May 31. An 11-year-old boy was pulled out of the ocean with shark bite injuries to the leg and hand, prompting doctors to amputate the leg. Then, on June 1, a 19-year-old woman was attacked at Boa Viagem Beach, just 10 kilometers away, resulting in the loss of her left leg around the thigh.
Both victims survived the ordeal, according to Brazilian media reports.
The environmental agency of the state of Pernambuco, where the attacks occurred, said its shark monitoring committee identified the shark from the June 1 incident as a three-meter tiger shark and the shark from the May 31 attack as a bull shark.
It was the 84th attack since 1992 in the state, including 14 attacks on the islands of Fernando de Noronha.
The agency said they’ve invested $5.5 million reais (USD $1.1 million) since 2023 in measures to mitigate the risk of shark attacks, including environmental education, scientific research, and monitoring. The state had installed 150 shark warning signs along a 33-kilometer stretch of coast.
In January of this year, a 13-year-old was killed by a shark at a beach north of the city.
