A 15-year-old boy was bitten by a shark while surfing off the coast of New York’s Fire Island

By Jessica Xing, CNN

(CNN) — A 15-year-old boy was attacked by a shark Monday afternoon as he was surfing off the coast of New York’s Fire Island, police said.

The teenager was bitten on his toes and left heel but was able to swim to shore, according to the Suffolk County Police Department. The boy’s injuries were non-life-threatening, police said.

Once he reached the beach, the surfer was found by another beachgoer who was able to provide medical assistance until Suffolk County Marine Bureau Officers arrived, police said.

The teen’s heel and toes were intact when he was taken to Good Samaritan University Hospital in West Islip, Long Island.

The attack happened around 5:20 p.m. ET at Kismet Beach on Fire Island, a thin barrier island that runs parallel to the shores of Long Island.

The shark attack is the first to be reported by the Suffolk County authorities this summer.

Though shark attacks are far more common off the coast of Florida and the Carolinas, a spate of non-fatal shark attacks off the coast of New York last summer rattled beachgoers and triggered several beach closures. Experts told CNN at the time that a combination of conservation efforts and climate change may have contributed to the increase of attacks in New York.

Still, shark attacks in the northeast remain relatively rare and the the odds of getting fatally attacked by a shark remain less than 1 in 4 million, according to the International Shark Attack File.

The-CNN-Wire
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