In a rare event two people are recovering from separate blue shark attacks occurring one day apart in Spain and Portugal.
The first attack occurred Aug. 16 off the coast of Portugal. An unidentified Indonesian man was pulling nets about 105 miles off the coast west of Vila do Conde when a blue shark bit him.
“The fishing vessel made a request for assistance, reporting there was a crew member on board who had been bitten by a blue shark, and that he was suffering abundant (blood) loss. CODU-MAR (emergency services) was immediately informed, which carried out an assessment of the victim’s condition, considering the situation as an urgent medical rescue,” the Portuguese Navy said in a statement.
An EH-101 Merlin helicopter from Squadron 751 collected the 35-year-old man from the vessel Vila do Infante. After a 5-hour trip, the rescuers landed at Sá Carneiro Airport and the man was transported to Hospital de São João. Although he was in intensive care, the injured man was given a favorable evaluation and is expected to survive the incident.
It is likely the man was bitten by a captured blue shark, which would mean the attack should be considered provoked.
A second blue shark attack occurred the same day in Oliva, Spain.
An unidentified man was enjoying his usual swim Aug. 17 off the Aguas Blancas beach. The man was in less than knee-deep water when he saw a shadow, felt something bump his left leg and felt a bite to his right foot. He saw blood in the water but was unsure what happened.
The water was filled with people and the Oliva resident didn’t want to alarm anyone so he calmly got out of the water and went to a health post where he was referred to the Olivia Health Center. He was treated with antibiotics but did not need stiches.
After examining the man’s wound, a health worker determined the bite was from a blue shark and alerted authorities. Members of the Oliva City Council banned swimming on Aguas Blancas and 2 other beaches. In addition, they monitored the waters for shark activity before reopening the beaches the following day.
The injured man won’t let the incident keep him from the water. “The first thing I am going to do when my foot heals is to go back. If you are afraid of things, you are lost,” he told the regional newspaper Las Provincias.
It’s rare to hear of a blue shark biting a human. The last bite in the area by a blue shark occurred in 2016 when a man was bitten on the hand at Elche, and another in 1993 when a person was bitten on Malvarrosa Beach.
A similar incident occurred in Ireland and Italy in 2018.
Robert Malcolmson , 40, was shark fishing off the coast of Cork when he hooked a blue shark. As the deep-sea angler from Belfast was pulling in the shark he was bitten on the leg. He was rescued by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI).
In Italy, an unidentified man was playing with friends in the waters off Torino di Sangro in the province of Chieti. The 24-year-old said he was in knee-deep water when he felt a pain in his calf. Looking down he saw blood appear as a fin disappeared into the water.
The current shark attack bites have been marked on the 2023 Shark Attack Map.
