Long Island beach is temporarily closed following a shark-related incident

A Long Island beach was closed Sunday after a “shark-related incident” involving a lifeguard, according to Suffolk County executive Steve Bellone.

Additional information about the morning incident at Smith Point Beach was not immediately available.

Three days earlier, nearby Jones Beach in Nassau County saw a swimmer suffer a “possible shark bite,” prompting local county police to step up beach patrols ahead of the July 4 holiday weekend.

The town of Hempstead also formed a “shark patrol” after a fisherman spotted a 10-foot mako shark about 11 miles west of Jones Beach over Memorial Day weekend.

Shark attacks on Long Island “are extremely rare,” county officials said, but they’ve been increasing in frequency recently.

More sharks have been sighted in the last two years than in the entire previous decade combined.