Woman injured in suspected shark attack at Martha’s Vineyard beach

A late summer swim at a Martha's Vineyard beach took an unsettling turn on Aug. 31 after a woman came out of the water with a possible shark bite to her lower leg, reported the Cape Cod Times, part of the USA TODAY Network.

The incident happened around 1:40 p.m. at South Beach, according to an alert issued by Edgartown Town Administrator James Hagerty. Swimming at the beach was suspended for several hours as a precaution, following the town's procedure for suspected shark encounters.

No one actually spotted a shark or other marine animal, but the woman's wounds appeared to match "a potential shark bite," Hagerty noted. The injury was not life-threatening.

Her injuries, Hagerty reported, "did not involve the loss of a limb."

Beach staff helped the unidentified woman, who is in her late twenties, and Edgartown Fire, EMS, and Parks personnel treated her on the scene before taking her to the hospital for further evaluation.

The incident happened at Norton Point, which marks the eastern end of South Beach on the island's south shore, stretching toward Chappaquiddick as a long barrier beach. It's one of the Vineyard's most dynamic stretches of shoreline, with open Atlantic surf on one…

Original source: https://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/