Woman Killed In Rare Shark Attack Off The Coast Of Maine

A woman in Maine was killed in a rare shark attack. She was swimming off the coast of Bailey Island when a shark bit her and tossed her into the air. A pair of nearby kayakers witnessed the attack and rushed over to help. They brought the woman to shore, where she was pronounced dead by emergency responders.

This could be the first fatal shark attack to happen in Maine. Dr. James Sulikowski, a professor at Arizona State University who conducts shark research in New England, told the Press Herald that there has only been one shark attack recorded in Maine. That incident occurred in 2010 when a shark mistook a diver's camera for food. The diver managed to fight off the shark and survived the encounter.

Sulikowski thinks that the woman was attacked because the white shark thought she was food.

"My guess is that the person was mistaken as a food item. In this area of Maine and depending on how close to shore the event occurred, my guess is it was a white shark."

Officials said the shark that attacked the woman also attacked a seal over the weekend. The seal was not eaten but was left with a 19-inch bite mark. Officials said that a shark would have to be at least 11-feet long to leave a bite mark that large.

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