Sunset Beach closes again Monday after more shark sightings

A one-mile stretch of beach front in Huntington Beach was reopened Monday after multiple shark sightings – and then closed again Monday evening after more sharks were spotted.

Sharks at least eight feet in length were spotted in the waters off Sunset Beach around 2 p.m. Sunday, prompting firefighters to prohibit anyone from getting in the ocean for the rest of the day and much of Monday moing, according to Lt. Claude Panis of the Huntington Beach Fire Department’s Marine Safety Division. The beach was closed again at about 4:30 p.m.

“Whenever there’s a sighting of an 8-foot long shark, we do our due diligence and close the waters down,” Panis said.

It didn’t appear, however, that the sharks were aggressive, he said.

Sunset Beach is slightly more than a mile long and runs between Anderson and Waer Streets.

The Sunday sighting was the second Orange County shark incident in a week. On May 29, a shark attacked a 52-year-old woman off Corona del Mar State Beach. Maria Korcsmaros, was swimming more than a mile out at sea – training for a half-Iron Man competition scheduled for July – when the attack happened.

Korcsmaros was pulled bleeding from the ocean about 4:15 p.m. that day by lifeguards on an offshore patrol boat who noticed she was in distress. She remains hospitalized with a large bite wound on the right side of her body that stretches from her upper body to her pelvic area.

Doctors said Korcsmaros’ physical condition and discipline were instrumental in her survival from the serious injuries she suffered. She is expected to recover.