Myrtle Beach visitor says shark bite happened in waist-deep water, needed ‘hundreds of stitches’

Adam Benson
Susan Haigh/AP

Karrin Sites was in Myrtle Beach for the first day of a vacation more than a year in the making when a shark latched onto her arm on Aug. 15 - causing an injury that would require hundreds of stitches.

“I just felt something bite me and I looked down and there was a shark on my arm and I kept pushing at it to get it off of my arm,” Sites, a mortgage loan processor from Pittsburgh, recounted to WPDE a day after the attack.

Sites said she was in waist deep water near 75th Avenue N. when the shark bit into her forearm.

Myrtle Beach Police Master Cpl. Kevin Larke, who runs the city’s beach patrol, told an advisory committee on Wednesday two people had been bitten by a shark within hours of each other earlier in the week.

Officials have no way of knowing whether the same shark is responsible for both bites — the other one happened near 84th Ave. N and are the only recorded attacks within the city this year.

Sites’ 8-year-old grandson Brian told the TV station he was a short distance away when the attack happened.

“I couldn’t even see the shark coming up, but all I saw was the shark jumped up and it didn’t even bite all the way,” he said. “I saw the movement of it’s tail going to the side. As soon as she touched it, it just fell into the water.”

Sites spoke to the TV station showing a heavily bandaged arm covering a wound that required “hundreds of stitches.”

MyrtleBeach.com says there have been roughly 50 shark attacks on local beaches since 1852, with no fatalities. A visitor to the area has about a one in four million chance of being bitten - longer odds than being struck by lightning.

The United States recorded the most unprovoked shark attacks of any nation in 2021, with 47 confirmed cases. That’s a 42 percent jump from 2020 rates, according to International Shark File, a project of the Florida Museum.

And South Carolina ranked third nationally for the number of unprovoked bites last year, with four, trailing only Hawaii and Florida.

The International Shark File offers tips on how swimmers can keep themselves safe from a potential encounter

  • Always stay in groups since sharks are more likely to attack a solitary individual.

  • Do not wander too far from shore — this isolates an individual and additionally places one far away from assistance.

  • Avoid being in the water during darkness or twilight hours when sharks are most active and have a competitive sensory advantage.

  • Do not enter the water if bleeding from an open wound, and enter with caution if menstruating — a shark’s olfactory ability is acute.

  • Wearing shiny jewelry is discouraged because the reflected light resembles the sheen of fish scales.

  • Avoid waters with known effluents or sewage and those being used by sport or commercial fisherman, especially if there are signs of bait fishes or feeding activity. Diving seabirds are good indicators of such action.

  • Sightings of porpoises do not indicate the absence of sharks — both often eat the same food items.

  • Use extra caution when waters are murky and avoid uneven tanning and bright colored clothing — sharks see contrast particularly well.

  • Refrain from excess splashing and do not allow pets in the water because of their erratic movements.

  • Exercise caution when occupying the area between sandbars or near steep dropoffs — these are favorite hangouts for sharks.

  • Do not enter the water if sharks are known to be present and evacuate the water if sharks are seen while there.

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