Florida shark attacks near Gulf Coast beach injure 2 teens, one adult

Three people were injured Friday in back-to-back shark attacks in waters off Florida's Gulf Coast, officials said.

Two of the victims – an adult woman and a young girl – were flown to hospitals for treatment of their injuries, according to Corey Dobridnia, public information officer for the Walton County Sheriff's Office.

One of the victims, a 45-year-old woman, lost her lower left arm in the first attack. She was seriously injured shortly before 1:15 p.m. on Watersound Beach, Florida, about 15 miles off the Gulf Coast of Panama City Beach.

The second incident in which two people were injured occurred in Inlet Beach, between southern Walton and Bay counties, on sheriff's office said. The victims, aged 15 to 17, were in waist-deep water, about 6 kilometers from the scene of the first attack.

“We are 100 percent sure it was done by a shark,” Dobridnia told USA TODAY. “It's inside, a very short distance away, that it will probably be the same shark.”

Authorities searching for bull shark

Police asked the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to search for a bull shark, common in the area, Dobridnia said.

Officials closed public access to the Gulf of Mexico in Walton counties Friday afternoon, with double red flags flying at area beaches; anyone violating the closure was threatened with a $500 fine.