OAN’s Stephanie Stahl
1:42 PM – Monday, October 2, 2023
The search for a missing man who was reportedly attacked by a shark in the waters off Marin County, California, has been suspended, according to a spokesperson for the U.S. Coast Guard.
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The incident reportedly occurred on Sunday, and a search and rescue was still underway on Monday morning involving the Marin Fire Department, the National Park Service, the Marin County Sheriff’s Office, and the Coast Guard.
However, authorities suspended the operation just after 9 a.m. on Monday.
The Coast Guard received a report on Sunday at 10:40 a.m. regarding a man who was “attacked by a shark” and pulled under at Wildcat Beach at the southern end of Point Reyes National Seashore.
The unidentified missing man is believed to be around 50 years old, according to witnesses.
“To my knowledge, yeah, this could be the first fatal shark attack [in the Marin County area]. But we’re hopeful that he’ll be found,” Marin County Fire Department Senior Captain Ben Ghisletta said in a statement prior to the search being suspended.
The official account for Point Reyes National Seashore had posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, informing the public of the ongoing search.
According to a witness who spoke to reporters, the missing man was in the water with a group of people when a shark suddenly attacked him and pulled him under.
The other people in the group managed to get out of the ocean in time.
The three swimmers, including the man who is still missing, were reportedly camped out at a location close to the beach with up to 15 other people.
“Wildcat Beach is a 2.9-miles-long beach deep within the Phillip Burton Wilderness in the southern part of the national seashore,” the National Park Service said on its website.
Authorities did not mention why they were stopping the search.
This is a developing story.
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