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Two Men Hurt in Shark Attacks Off Coasts of Carolinas


FILE - Vacationers sit in chairs along the surf in Oak Island, N.C., where two youths were hurt in shark attacks on June 14, 2015.
FILE - Vacationers sit in chairs along the surf in Oak Island, N.C., where two youths were hurt in shark attacks on June 14, 2015.

Two men were bitten by sharks off the coasts North Carolina and South Carolina on Friday, bringing to six the number of attacks in the area in the past two weeks.

A 47-year old man was bitten multiple times while swimming in North Carolina's Outer Banks area, near the seaside town of Avon, authorities said. A U.S. National Park Service statement said the victim suffered injuries to his right leg and lower back.

The man was transported by air ambulance to a hospital in Norfolk, Virginia, the service said.

The other victim, a 43-year-old man, was attacked near Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. He was taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

The Associated Press reported that in the past two weeks, at least four other people have been bitten by sharks off the North Carolina coast. It said two of the attacks occurred within 90 minutes of each other at Oak Island, and in each case, the victim lost a limb.

The National Park Service said the last known encounter with a shark at the Cape Hatteras National Seashore area, which it oversees, occurred in 2011 on Ocracoke Island.

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