Search continues for shark that attacked boy
People are not yet being allowed back in the water in Encinitas.
SAN DIEGO — Lifeguards and police were using personal watercraft and aerial surveillance Sunday to continue their search for a large shark that attacked a 13-year-old boy near Beacon’s Beach in Encinitas on Saturday morning, leaving him with traumatic upperbody injuries.
There have been no reports of a shark in the area since the attack, but Encinitas lifeguard Capt. Larry Giles said people are not yet being allowed back in the water.
“We imagine it could be a great white shark, but we don’t know for sure,” Giles said during a Sunday morning news conference.
The injured boy was in serious condition in the intensive-care unit at Rady Children’s Hospital on Sunday. Giles had no further information on the teenager, who was diving for lobsters on the first day of the season when he was attacked. His mother was nearby on the beach.
Swimming, surfing and diving are prohibited from Ponto Beach in southern Carlsbad to Swami’s Beach in Encinitas through Monday morning, officials said. That stretch remains open to people, however, as long as they stay out of the water.
Giles said Carlsbad police will use a drone to search for the shark, while lifeguards will continue searching on watercraft.
Authorities posted 70 signs on Saturday warning people about the shark danger, but Giles said 20 to 30 of them have already been stolen, probably as souvenirs.
He said it’s a priority to determine what kind of shark was involved, emphasizing that such attacks are highly unusual even though thousands of sharks frequent the North County coastline.
“We have so many sharks out here in the water that are un-threatening to the public,” Giles said.
He said Chris Lowe, director of the Shark Lab at Cal State Long Beach, was scheduled to visit North County on Sunday to speak with witnesses and try to determine what species of shark attacked the boy and why it was in the area.
Making that determination will help authorities better understand the behavior patterns of sharks and what risks people face in the region’s waters.
Witnesses described the shark as being about 11 feet long, based on its silhouette in the water, Giles said
He said the boy was fortunate that an off-duty state lifeguard and an off-duty Oceanside police officer were in the water at the time of the attack. They pulled the boy into a kayak and applied pressure to his wounds.
“They played a significant part in helping this young man and possibly saving his life,” Giles said.
Though there have been a dozen shark attacks in the region since 2000, this was the first in Encinitas in at least 30 years, Giles said.
The last fatal attack was on April 25, 2008, when retired veterinarian David Martin, 66, was killed by a great white shark while on a triathlon training swim off Fletcher Cove in Solana Beach.