A 19-year-old woman and an 11-year-old boy in Brazil each lost a leg to recent shark attacks that happened within a day and just over 6 miles of each other.
The teen, identified as Marcela Vitoria de Lima Santos by the New York Post, was attacked Monday at Boa Viagem Beach in Recife.
The attacker was a 10-foot-long tiger shark, the Pernambuco State Secretariat for the Environment and Sustainability said on Facebook.
“I went into the water,” the teen’s cousin told a Brazilian TV station, according to the Post, “because she was drifting a little farther away, losing strength. I grabbed her by the arm and brought her back, pulling her, swimming toward the shore, and people came and helped me. She was very badly injured; she had already lost her leg.”
Sunday’s attack happened near Piedade Beach in Jaboatao dos Guararapes, state officials said.
The youngster, identified as Joao Lucas Castor Nemezio Sales by the Post, was struck by a bull shark and suffered injuries to his thigh and left hand, officials said on Facebook.
Ms. Santos lost her right leg, and Lucas’ left leg was amputated, according to Brazilian news site Brasil de Fato.
The two attacks were the third and fourth in the state of Pernambuco in 2026, including an incident that caused a fatality.
Pernambuco officials announced Wednesday that after a more than 10-year hiatus, they will resume monitoring the shark population along the state’s coast, focusing on tiger sharks and bull sharks, according to Brazilian public news agency Agencia Brasil.
As of Wednesday, Ms. Santos and Lucas remained hospitalized in the same facility in Recife, according to Agencia Brasil.
