A swimmer dead after a shark attack on Cape Cod: NPR

A swimmer died after being bitten by a shark in the waters off Wellfleet, Massachusetts, in what appears to be the first deadly shark attack in 80 years.

The attack occurred Saturday near Newcomb Hollow Beach in Cape Cod. Wellfleet police, Lt. Michael Hurley, told The Associated Press that the victim was a man in his early twenties, but that his identity was not revealed.

According to a report from NPR member station WBUR, the latest Massachusetts murder took place in 1936. The Cape Cod District Attorney's Office and the Massachusetts State Police are both investigating the case. Hurley said.

The Chief Forester at Cape Cod National Seashore, Leslie Reynolds, told the Cape Cod Times Wellfleet Guards and Police practiced CPR on the beach after the bite. He was then transported to Cape Cod Hospital by ambulance, according to the Cape Cod National Park Service. The agency claims that the attack occurred 300 meters south of the beach.

A witness of the attack told the Providence Newspaper he saw "a giant eruption of water – 15 feet wide I saw a tail and a lot of blows." He called the incident "worst nightmare".

Saturday's incident was the second shark attack off Cape Cod this summer, although several sharks have been spotted in the region in recent months, according to WBUR.

In August, a man was bitten by a shark at Long Nook Beach. Swimmer William Lytton of Scarsdale, N.Y., waded about 30 meters from the shore, becoming the first person to be attacked by a shark in Massachusetts waters since 2012, according to WBUR. Lytton was airlifted to Tufts Medical Center in Boston, where he was treated for deep wounds in his chest and leg.

At Newcomb Hollow Beach, site of the Saturday incident, beach visitors are greeted by a sign warning them to "be smart," according to a local CBS affiliate. "The sign advises to avoid swimming near seals, to swim near the deep-water coast and to swim or surf in groups," said the CBS affiliate.

Last month, the same outlet reported a warning from Nathan Sears, responsible for natural resources and project manager in the city of Orleans, Massachusetts. In a Facebook post, Sears said swimmers had to assume that there were still sharks in the area or that "something terrible was going to happen".

"We see sharks feeding aggressively in shallow, shocking waters almost daily during the month of last August," he wrote. "[We work] assuming that there are always sharks near the bathing area. "