A man swimming in Cape Cod was bitten by a shark Wednesday, officials say, suffering "deep puncture wounds." The 61-year-old man was standing in the water 30 yards from the shore around 4:15 p.m. when the shark bit him, according to Cape Cod park officials. The incident occurred 300 yards south of Longnook Beach in Truro within the boundary of Cape Cod National Seashore, they said. "Encounters with white sharks in which people suffer injuries are as terrifying as they are rare," Cape-cod research, education and public safety nonprofit Atlantic White Shark Conservancy said in a statement. More:Shark attacks helicopter! The 5 most outrageous shark-movie moments in honor of 'The Meg' More:Shark bites man swimming off sandbar near beach in Texas The man was standing in a shallow water area near at least 10 seals, the Cape Cod Times reports. After the bite he was treated by local emergency service personnel on the beach before getting transported by helicopter to Tufts Medical Center in Boston. The shark caused deep puncture wounds to his torso and leg, Truto harbormaster Gary Sharpless told the Times. The man is conscious and talking, according to Truro Fire Chief Tim Collins. This is the second shark bite to occur off Truro’s Atlantic coastline in six years, according to the Times. The type of shark has yet to be identified. The beach is closed until further notice and U.S. National Park Service Rangers are investigating the incident. The Atlantic White Shark Conservancy suggests this incident was a case of "mistaken identity." Sharks, which usually don't target humans, often 'test the waters' with their teeth to tell if what they're about to eat is prey or something to avoid, the nonprofit said. Follow Lilly Price on Twitter: @lillianmprice<doc-sep>A man was bitten by a shark off a Cape Cod beach in Massachusetts today. The story is updated here as of 8 p.m. ET on Wednesday. These are the latest Massachusetts shark attack updates: *The victim, a 61-year-old man, was conscious, according to The Associated Press. "They were conscious and talking, so we're hoping for the best," Truro Fire Chief Timothy Collins said. *The man was "seemingly too far out" from the beach, and was seen after an apparent bite "lying on the beach with a large, rectangular gash in his leg. One person said one of the man's hands also appeared mangled," according to the AP. The man was reportedly swimming in the water or standing, about 300 feet offshore, and bitten today around 4:30 p.m. ET, according to a report from NECN. The news site said Truro, Massachusetts police confirmed the bite. The injured person, reportedly a 61-year-old man, was bitten in the leg, according to WCVB. An emergency services helicopter was on the scene. CBS Boston reports it was a surfer. NECN said that the victim suffered "deep puncture wounds" in the shark attack. The site published a video of officials on the scene. The Truro, Massachusetts area has seen an increase in its seal population, which has conversely attracted more great white sharks since the seals are a primary food source. Last summer a white shark took a bite out of a paddleboard just off Marconi Beach in Wellfleet, throwing its rider into the water, reported NBC Boston, noting that "only recently have (white sharks) been catalogued in large numbers off Cape Cod during the summer." There hasn't been a fatal shark attack in Massachusetts since 1936, NBC Boston reported and the last great white attack in the state was in 2012, near Truro. The man bitten in the shark attack today was treated at the scene by paramedics and flown by helicopter to the Tufts Medical Center in Boston, according to the Boston Globe. Last week two Cape Cod beaches were closed for great white shark sightings. The sightings came days after a scientist posted a viral video off the Massachusetts coast of a great white lurching toward him from the water. The sightings came one day after a scientist made viral news with a video of a great white leaping from the water toward him. That video was shared by the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy. "He came right over to the boat," said Nick Kraszyk, one of the fishermen on board when the great white approached off Cape Cod, according to NBC. "He was a little bit curious, and when he realized that we weren't anything special, he just turned and headed off, couldn't find him anymore." Last week the Meadow Beach in Truro was closed for an hour after a sighting around 11:30 a.m. Eastern. The day before Marconi Beach was closed to swimming for an hour Monday due to a shark sighting.<doc-sep>TRURO, Mass. — A 61-year-old man was flown to a trauma hospital in Boston on Wednesday after becoming the second shark bite victim in six years off Truro’s Atlantic coastline. The man was standing about 300 yards south of Long Nook Beach, on Cape Cod National Seashore property, and about 30 yards offshore when he was bitten by the shark, according to Truro police. He told rescuers that he was in shallow water when the bite occurred, and witnesses said there were at least 10 seals in the area at the time. “It was a shark bite,” said Seashore Chief Ranger Leslie Reynolds. A man from Smithfield says that he and a friend pulled the victim from the water, according to Channel 10. "I pulled him out," Thomas Buckett told the station. "We dragged him the rest of the way — about 10 feet — to the shore. He was yelling 'Get me out of the water. Get me out of the water.'" The Smithfield man said he had been in the water and was intending to go back in when he heard some scream "shark," the station wrote. The state’s shark expert, Gregory Skomal, will need to confirm what type of shark it was, said Reynolds, who is part of a shark working group on the Cape that also includes state and town officials, and the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy. Skomal and the conservancy have been studying the region’s great white shark population, which has risen dramatically over the past decade, thanks to an abundance of seals, which the sharks feed on. “Encounters with white sharks in which people suffer injuries are as terrifying as they are rare,” conservancy CEO Cynthia Wigren said in a statement about the bite issued Wednesday night. “While we still don’t know all of the details of this particular bite, sharks are not known to target people specifically, and when they do bite people, it’s usually a case of mistaken identity.” In 2012, Christopher Myers of Denver was bit in the feet and legs by a great white shark at Ballston Beach while swimming offshore. Myers required 47 stitches and his tendons had to be surgically repaired, but he survived. Last year a great white took a bite out of a standup paddleboard at Marconi Beach, but the owner of the board was not injured. The last reported fatality in Massachusetts from shark bite occurred in 1936. Reynolds and Truro Fire Chief Timothy Collins said they were hopeful the man who was bitten on Wednesday would recover, given that he was conscious and talking as he was prepared to be flown by a MedFlight helicopter from the Seashore headquarters in South Wellfleet to Tufts Medical Center. At around 4 p.m., Molly Tobin, of New York, had just arrived at Long Nook Beach with friends and was headed toward the south end. At around that time, there were many people sitting on the beach and at least 10 seals could be seen in the water, according to witnesses. A short time earlier, a man had been seen swimming south of the beach and a little too far offshore, according to the witnesses. “Someone said there was a shark attack,” said Tobin, who with a friend had just graduated from nursing school and passed their boards. “We have no experience. We were like, all right, let’s go try to help out.” The pair ran down to the man and found him alone and on the beach, as though he had managed to get himself out of the water, Tobin said. “We were the first people to take care of him,” she said. At first he appeared to be OK, just lying by himself, Tobin said. “Then we saw the wound,” she said. “It was definitely a shark bite to his leg, on the left side.” With the injured man both breathing and conscious, Tobin said they then tried to stop the bleeding with beach towels from other people who had arrived to help. With poor cellphone service on the beach, someone ran to a place where a 911 call could be made, she said. A group of people then carried the man closer to the path that leads uphill to the beach parking lot. where Truro rescue personnel had arrived to take him away in an ambulance, Tobin said. “He never went out of consciousness,” Tobin said, adding that he asked that someone tell his family, who was also on the beach, about his injuries. “My heart goes out to them.” By around 5 p.m. there were still a lot of people sunbathing, including 10 people up to their knees in water at the beach as two town staff members arrived to display the “Danger, No Swimming” sign. The town beach, which does not have lifeguards, was closed to swimming until further notice, according to a post on the town’s website. “He passed us as we were walking,” Pam Bosch of Roseville, Minnesota, said about how far out the man was when she turned around and headed back after walking south from Long Nook Beach. “And he was still swimming. I thought to myself, there’s a gentleman who looks really confident in the water.” She might have seen a seal in the area where the man was swimming, Bosch said. “It was noticeable,” Aiden Rodriguez, of Braintree, said about how far offshore the man appeared to be swimming. The man’s injury was to his left hip and leg, according to Truro police. His hand appeared damaged as well, Rodriguez said. “There was definitely a trail of blood,” he said. Michael Sheridan of Philadelphia described the wound as a deep tear. “It was split apart,” he said. A woman with Sheridan said they had tried to make tourniquet from her purse strap. Paramedics and emergency medical technicians use a variety of techniques, including a quick-clotting agent, to control shark bite wounds, said Brewster paramedic and firefighter Kirk Rounseville, who was not involved in the response in Truro. “It depends on the injury,” Rounseville said. In cases of traumatic amputation of a leg, arm or hand, rescue crews use tourniquets, pressure and elevation to stop the victim from a critical loss of blood, he said. If the victim has sustained puncture wounds, paramedics may also stuff the wound with Quikclot, a type of gauze used by the military to encourage clotting, Rounseville said. Rescue crews could be heard calling for more Quikclot in radio transmissions after the sharke bite. During a telephone conversation from his home, as news helicopters flew overhead, state Sen. Julian Cyr, D-Truro, praised Truro’s first responders for making the rescue in what he called “the least accessible beach on Cape Cod.” “My thoughts are with the victim and we hope he has a full recovery,” said Cyr. “We know this gentleman is getting some of the best care in the country in Boston.” Seashore rangers are investigating the incident, Reynolds said. — Staff writers Jason Kolnos, Cynthia McCormick, Tanner Stening and Geoff Spillane contributed to this report. Follow Mary Ann Bragg on Twitter: @MaryAnnBraggCCT.<doc-sep>
What to Know Police said a person was bitten by a shark at Long Nook Beach in Truro, Massachusetts on Wednesday afternoon. The victim, a 61-year-old male, suffered "deep puncture wounds" to his torso and leg. There have been numerous shark sightings off Cape Cod in recent weeks, including several close calls involving fishermen. A man suffered "deep puncture wounds" when he was bitten by a shark while standing in the water just 30 yards off shore of a Cape Cod beach on Wednesday afternoon. NBC10 Boston’s Sky Ranger was over a great white shark off Long Nook Beach in Cape Cod on Wednesday, showing how close the shark was to the beach. The footage was recorded less than two hours after a man was bitten by a shark in the same area. It has not been determined if this is the same shark that... The victim was bitten near Long Nook Beach in Truro, according to police. The Truro harbormaster said the victim, a 61-year-old man, suffered puncture wounds to his torso and leg. He was transported to Wellfleet and then taken by medical helicopter to Tufts Medical Center in Boston. His condition was not immediately known. Timeline of Shark Attack on Cape Cod The incident was reported at 4:15 p.m., 300 yards south of Long Nook Beach. It is not known yet what type of shark bit the man. Missing Attachment NBC10 Boston Sky Ranger over the scene of a shark-attack victim being transported from the ambulance to a Medflight helicopter in Cape Cod. According to Cape Cod National Seashore officials, the victim said he was standing in the water 30 yards off shore when the shark bit him. More Great White Sharks Spotted Off Cape Cod Long Nook Beach has been closed to swimming until further notice, according to the town's website, but some swimmers can still be seen in the water. No further details on the attack were immediately available. U.S. National Park Service rangers are investigating. A customer on a charter boat with Aquarius Sport Fishing in Barnstable Harbor lured in a much bigger catch than expected on Sunday. There have been a number of close encounters in recent weeks, with sharks leaping out of the water after fishing lines and one even jumping at a shark scientist who was on a research boat. There have been 10 great white shark sightings in the past week, and more than 60 over the last month off Cape Cod, according to the Sharktivity app. A shark decided to go after a striper at the end of a line cast out from the Stone Horse Shoals. It's been six years since a shark has attacked a person off the Massachusetts coast. Last August, a shark bit into a stand-up paddleboard in 3-foot-deep water off Marconi Beach in Wellfleet. "I caught a few waves and was paddling back out and I was moving to stand up when I got knocked off my board," 69-year-old Cleveland "Cleve" Bigelow said at the time. "It felt like getting hit by a truck while on a bicycle. It was a shock. I thought, 'What was that?'" He was not bitten and was able to paddle to shore. In September 2014, two kayakers were knocked out of their boats by a great white shark off Manomet Point in Plymouth. Two years before that, in 2012, a 50-year-old man was bodysurfing with his son off Ballston Beach in Truro when he was bitten by an eight to nine foot shark. He suffered nerve and tendon damage, but otherwise fully recovered. Prior to that, the last shark attack on a human off Cape Cod was in July of 1996, when a 46-year-old man was bitten while collecting starfish in North Truro.