Woman Was ‘Most Likely’ Bitten by Shark at Jones Beach, Scientists Say

New York|Woman Was ‘Most Likely’ Bitten by Shark at Jones Beach, Officials Say

A 20-year-old woman was most likely bitten by a shark on Wednesday at Jones Beach on Long Island in New York in what an official said was the first such attack of the season at a beach at a New York State park.

The woman, who was not publicly identified, was waist deep in the water around 4:15 p.m. at the Central Mall beachfront of Jones Beach State Park when she reported being bitten by “unknown marine wildlife,” the State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation said in a statement on Friday.

The woman sustained minor cuts to her left foot and leg, the statement said. Lifeguards and emergency workers responded, and the woman was transported to a hospital. Her injuries were not life-threatening, according to the statement.

She did not see what caused her injuries, but biologists from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation concluded that the bite “most likely” involved a juvenile sand tiger shark.

The bite was the first of the season at a New York State park beach and “hopefully the last,” George Gorman, a regional director for the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, wrote in an email on Friday.

Swimming at Jones Beach was suspended for the rest of the day on Wednesday as the authorities used drones to search for dangerous marine life. Before reopening the beach on Thursday morning, park police and staff used drones to search for large schools of fish and other marine life.