A 26-year-old woman was bitten by a shark in the ocean at Holden Beach, N.C., making her the state's first shark bite victim this year, officials said.
Witnesses told police that Julia Anne Mittelberg, of Morton, Ill., was bitten while in about four feet of water off the 400 block of Ocean Boulevard West, said Chief Wallace W. Layne with the Holden Beach Police Department.
Mittelberg told police the incident happened around 3 p.m. Wednesday. She said she felt something bite her left foot, then made her way to shore, where she saw a bite on her foot, police said.
Mittelberg could not be reached Thursday for comment.
George Burgess, curator of the International Shark Attack File at the University of Florida, which tracks shark attacks nationwide, said the shark bite is the first reported in North Carolina this year.
None have been reported this year in South Carolina, he said.
"We regret that this unfortunate incident occurred in Holden Beach, but consider it an isolated, chance occurrence," Layne said.
Including Wednesday's attack, there have been five shark attacks in Brunswick County, N.C., since 1935, according to the International Shark Attack File's Web site.
Burgess said none of the attacks in Brunswick County have been fatal.
There have been 18 confirmed shark attacks in Horry County and four in Georgetown County between 1837 to 2008, according to the shark attack Web site.
Layne said Holden Beach Police, Brunswick County EMS, and emergency responders from the Tri-Beach Fire Department were on the scene of Wednesday's incident within minutes.
Brunswick County EMS took Mittelberg to the Brunswick Community Hospital.
A spokesperson with the Brunswick Community Hospital said Mittelberg was apparently bitten by a shark and was in good condition at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, Layne said.
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