OCRACOKE, N.C.--Authorities say a man apparently bitten by a shark off the North Carolina Outer Banks is being airlifted to a hospital with serious wounds.
According to a news release from Hyde County, the incident happened around 12:10pm Wednesday. Emergency services said they received a 911 call from a lifeguard at Ocracoke Island.
Justin Gibbs, the director of emergency services in Hyde County, says the person who was attacked is a man. The victim had bite wounds to his ribcage, lower leg, hip and both hands as he tried to fight off the shark.
The man was swimming outside the first breaker, directly in front of the lifeguard when he encountered a grey shark, six to seven feet in length. The shark pulled the man under the water and bit him several times.
The victim was flown to Vidant Medical Center in Greenville, N.C.
The man is the seventh person attacked along the North Carolina coast in three weeks.
Hyde County is going to have additional medical staff during the Fourth of July weekend, they say.
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