A lifeguard was pulled about five to six feet underwater by a great white shark near Scarborough Beach State Park in Maine on Saturday afternoon. Daryen Granata said the shark grabbed a rescue torpedo and dragged the lifeguard below the surface before he got free.
The lifeguard freed himself from the strap attached to the rescue device and swam back to shore. He was little shaken up afterward but was not injured, and Scarborough Beach State Park closed swimming for about an hour.
Scarborough Beach State Park in Maine
Granata, a Marine Resource Officer, said the reported shark activity and the circumstances around the encounter were “very consistent” with other activity recorded by experts with the New England Aquarium. That account places the incident inside a pattern that crews have been tracking, not as an isolated sighting.
Officials said there continues to be a significant number of great white sharks observed in the waters off Scarborough Beach State Park and Higgins Beach areas. A bystander reported seeing the flotation device shortly after the lifeguard started swimming to safety.
Pine Point Beach in Maine
The weekend encounter followed a Tuesday sighting, when a fisherman saw a great white shark near Pine Point Beach in Maine while fishing. For people heading to the water, the practical change is immediate: swimming at Scarborough Beach State Park can be halted quickly after a reported shark encounter, and crews are continuing to watch the area for shark activity.
Granata also said of the lifeguard, “I felt like I had a job to do.”
