Shark attack injures 14-year-old girl
CRYSTAL BEACH — When Lydia Paulk’s relatives came to the beach for an annual family reunion, they likely were not expecting to spend much of it at a hospital on the island instead of the beach cottage they had rented.
Still, Lydia’s aunt said not even the shark bite that put the 14-year-old in the hospital would deter them from returning next year.
“We’ve been coming to the beach for years, and this certainly will not stop us from coming back,” said Kit Marshall, an Aledo city councilwoman and a sister of Lydia’s mother.
The North Carolina girl was at a University of Texas Medical Branch hospital Wednesday evening recovering from the shark bite.
Lydia was in what officials described as waist-deep water with another aunt and a 6-year-old cousin when she felt something hit her leg.
“A couple of seconds later, she felt something grab her foot, and that was the moment she was bitten,” said Maj. Ray Tuttoilmondo of the Galveston County Sheriff’s Office.
The shark, described as 4 to 5 feet long, was probably a black tip shark, based on witness accounts.
