A swimmer died following an apparent shark attack near Bailey Island, Maine, on Monday, the Maine Department of Natural Resources confirmed.
The agency said that kayakers brought the unidentified woman to shore after swimmers saw she was injured from an apparent shark attack. She was pronounced dead at the scene by EMS responders.
Swimmers and boaters in the area were being told to remain cautious following the attack.
The University of Florida, which has a database of shark attacks in the United States, has not reported any such attacks from 2010 through 2019 off the coast of Maine. On average, there are 45 shark attacks in the United States a year. But fatal shark attacks are very rare in the US – just seven reported fatalities in the last decade, and three in the last four years.
According to the University of Florida, there was a fatal shark attack off the coast of California in May, marking the first US shark attack death in nearly two years.
