Shark attack off Cape Cod kills boogie boarder

WELLFLEET, Mass. — A man boogie-boarding off a Cape Cod beach was attacked by a shark Saturday and died later at a hospital, becoming the state’s first shark attack fatality in more than 80 years.

The 26-year-old man from Revere succumbed to his injuries after the attack in the waters off Newcomb Hollow Beach in Wellfleet at around noon, police Lt. Michael Hurley said.

Lifesaving measures were attempted on the beach before the man was taken to Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis, where he was pronounced dead, State Police spokesman David Procopio said. The beach was closed to swimming.

The attack is the first fatal shark attack in Massachusetts since 1936, and the second shark attack this season. A 61-year-old New York man was severely injured Aug. 15 after fighting off a shark near Truro, about 4 miles north of Saturday’s attack. He’s recovering in a Boston hospital.

“Today is just keeping everyone out of water,” Hurley said. “There’ll be a determination later about what the town wants to do with the beaches going forward.”

Beachgoers said the Wellfleet beach is popular with surfers, and with sunny skies and high temperatures Saturday it was busy, even though the summer season is over and lifeguards are no longer on watch.

Joe Booth, a local fisherman and surfer, said he was on shore when he saw the man and his friend boogie-boarding when the attack happened. He said he saw the man aggressively kick something behind him and a flicker of a tail from the water. He realized what was happening when the friend came ashore dragging his injured companion.

“I was that guy on the beach screaming, ‘Shark, shark!’ ” Booth said. “It was like right out of that movie ‘Jaws.’ This has turned into Amity Island real quick out here.”

Booth said people on the beach attempted to make a tourniquet while others frantically called 911.

There have been frequent shark sightings this summer along the outer Cape. The National Park Service, which manages many of the beaches where sharks tend to congregate, said it closed beaches for at least an hour about 25 times this year — more than double the annual average.

A Cape Cod politician said officials who did not take more aggressive action against sharks bore some responsibility for the fatal attack. Barnstable County Commissioner Ron Beaty said he had warned something like this could happen.

“It is my personal belief that the responsibility for this horrible shark attack rests squarely upon the shoulders of the aforementioned officials for their utter lack of attention and inaction regarding the growing shark problem on Cape Cod of the last few years,” he said.

Susan Haigh is an Associated Press writer.

Eric Williams / Cape Cod Times Emergency personnel confer at Newcomb Hollow Beach in Wellfleet, Mass., after a shark attacked a boogie boarder. The man later died at a hospital. The beach was immediately closed.