65-year old woman lost '20 pounds of flesh' after NYC Rockaway Beach shark attack

A 65-year-old woman was bitten by a shark on Monday at New York City’s Rockaway Beach, marking the first confirmed shark bite in the area since the 1950s. 

Tatyana Koltunyuk was swimming alone near Beach 59th Street at around 5 p.m. when a shark suddenly bit her on the left leg, spokeswoman for the city’s parks department Meghan Lalor said in a statement. 

Koltunyuk screamed for help and the lifeguards at the beach rushed to remove her from the water. They then applied a tourniquet to her bleeding leg and administered other first aid until emergency responders arrived and took her to Jamaica Hospital in critical condition.

By Tuesday, her condition remained “serious but stable,” police said. As a result of the shark bite, Koltunyuk lost “approximately 20 pounds of flesh.” 

Immediately after the attack, lifeguards at Rockaway Beach ordered all swimmers out of the water, and helicopter crews were sent to search for sharks in the waters. However, none were spotted. The beach remained closed for surfing and swimming on Tuesday. 

“We hope for a full recovery for this swimmer,” Lalor said. “Though this was a frightening event, we want to remind New Yorkers that shark bites in Rockaway are extremely rare.”

Since 1837, there have been only 20 unprovoked shark attacks in New York State, according to the Florida Museum’s International Shark Attack File. Park officials said there has not been a shark bite at Rockaway Beach “in recent memory.”

Monday’s attack was the first confirmed shark bite in New York City since the 1950s, according to the Global Shark Attack File, a website that tracks shark attacks around the world. In 1953, a 15-year-old boy was bitten by a shark that was hooked in his fishing line.

“I don’t think in my history, I’ve heard of that kind of injury in our waters, despite the fact that I’ve worked with sharks for 30 years,” said Hans Walters, a field scientist with the Wildlife Conservation Society’s New York Aquarium. “The injury itself is unusual.”

The teeth marks on Koltunyuk’s legs seem to indicate that she was bitten by a bull of Thresher shark. However, there might be a small possibility that she encountered a great white shark, experts said.