A lifeguard was pulled about five to six feet underwater by a great white shark near Scarborough Beach State Park in Maine on Saturday afternoon, then swam back to shore without injury. Swimming at the beach was closed for about an hour after the encounter.
The lifeguard was on shark patrol and using a rescue torpedo when the shark grabbed the flotation device and dragged him under, according to officials. He managed to free himself from the strap attached to the device and make it safely back to land, though he was described as a little shaken up after the incident.
The close call has added urgency to concerns about great white activity off the coast. Daryen Granata said there continues to be a significant number of great white sharks in the waters off Scarborough Beach State Park and Higgins Beach areas, and that recent observations have included multiple sharks moving through nearshore waters and sandbar areas.
Officials said the reported shark activity and the circumstances of the encounter were very consistent with other activity recorded by experts with the New England Aquarium. A bystander later reported seeing the flotation device after the lifeguard had started swimming to safety, underscoring how quickly the encounter unfolded in the water off the popular family beach destination.
The weekend incident followed another shark sighting earlier in the week near Pine Point Beach in Maine, where a fisherman said a great white shark swam close to where he was fishing on Tuesday. With swimming now reopened, the focus is on continued monitoring of the same stretch of coast where sharks have been repeatedly observed moving through the nearshore waters.
