Shark Sighting Reported at Rockaway Beach

Photo courtesy of Patricia Carbone/Instagram.

UPDATE: A spokesman for the NYC Department of Parks, which oversees Rockaway, says in a statement sent to Patch around 3:30 p.m. that ”after a bather reported seeing a shark, lifeguards cleared a section of Rockaway beach as a precaution. The beach is now [reopened].”

A possible shark sighting at Rockaway Beach in Queens led to the evacuation of hundreds of people at about 1:30 p.m. Sunday, multiple witnesses reported via social media.

“We haven’t seen any fins, but everybody just got evacuated from the water,” wroote Twitter user Natalie Kaufman.

Photos posted to Twitter and Instagram showed people lined up on the sandy beach, the water empty of swimmers.

An Instagram user named Patricia Carbone estimated that the waters were evacuated from about 123rd Street to the far end of the beach.