WALTON COUNTY, Fla. (WKRG)- The Walton County Sheriff’s Office beach marine unit continued to monitor the shoreline Saturday, following two shark attacks that sent three people to the hospital Friday.
Saturday, the beaches on the panhandle remain closed.
According to the Walton County Sheriff’s Facebook page, deputies found a 14-foot hammerhead shark east of South County Highway 395 in Santa Rosa Beach, but they stated it is not an uncommon sighting.
The first shark attack Friday injured a 45-year-old woman while the second injured two 15-year-old girls.
One of the girls suffered serious injuries to her upper leg and hand while the other girl had minor injuries to her foot.
Ryan Forbess and Mohammad Ali are both doctors and friends who take family vacations to the 30A area every summer. Both Forbess and Ali were at Rosemary Beach in the water boogie boarding with their kids at the time of the attack.
They tell News 5 that they heard pure panic on the shore and immediately knew there was probably a shark near by.
“We all started running out of the water. I grabbed my son; he grabbed his daughter, and then I looked over to the left as we were getting to the beach, and I saw cloudy red water from the shark attack,” Forbess said.
When they got back to shore, their medical training kicked in without question.
Other EMTs and Trauma nurses also on vacation ran to the girls rescue as well.
The team of medical professionals tied tourniquets on her upper leg and hand making sure pressure was applied to her wounds.
“When I looked down at her and saw the severity of the injury, I realized that anybody with any kind of medical knowledge needed to help,” Ali said.
Forbes and Ali said that they did not know the other medical personnel who were helping the girl, but at the time it did not matter as they all had one goal in mind, saving the 15-year-olds life.
“We might’ve as well worked with them for years,” Forbess said.
Grateful that everyone that could help was at the right place at the right time.
“It was amazing.” Forbes said. “Kind of just it was God’s will that everyone was there to help at the same time.”
Forbes and Ali talked to the family after the girl was admitted to the hospital. They are told she is expected to survive.
