Shark attacks seal, forces Nauset Beach to close down

ORLEANS, Mass. — A vicious shark attack on a seal at Nauset Beach just 30 feet from the shore prompted the beach to close down on Friday afternoon.

Footage sent to Boston 25 News from a viewer shows a bloodied seal floating in the water near the shore.

Ken Martin, the man who took the video, said there were about fifteen surfers in the water when the attack happened at around 2:45 p.m.

Lifeguards rushed to get everyone out of the water, but the surf made it a difficult task.

"When you have 10-foot waves, unfortunately, the surfers couldn't really hear what was going on," said Martin. "People on the beach [were] yelling to get in and the surfers couldn't hear you and then they started noticing there's something going on and they started paddling around. then, they quickly realized there was a shark in the water."

Martin says it took about five minutes to get the surfers back to the shore. He says, in his nearly 60 years of going to Nauset Beach, he's never seen anything like this before.

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