DAYTONA BEACH, Fla., Sept. 3 (UPI) -- Two men were bitten by sharks Friday on the east coast of Florida, where surfers took advantage of waters roiled by Hurricane Earl, a beach guard said.
Capt. Scott Petersohn of the Volusia County Beach Patrol told the Orlando Sentinel the men were surfers -- one bitten on a thigh and the other on one of his hands.
One of the men, 24, told the beach patrol he had been paddling through a large school of smaller fish when he was bitten.
Petersohn said surfers have reported seeing large numbers of sharks but that has not kept them out of the water.
"The waves take over," he said. "They don't care about the sharks."
Schools of fish brought to shore by the storm are the attraction for the sharks, Petersohn said, not the surfers.
The sharks may be blacktips, which grow to less than 5 feet and are not normally dangerous to people, he said.
