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Fin-der bender: Coney-bound shark dies in Florida car crash

Fin-der bender: Coney-bound shark dies in Florida car crash
Brian Norwood

It was like a real-life Sharknado.

One of four sharks headed from Florida to Coney Island died after it was ejected from its tank when the 18-wheeler carrying it crashed on June 10.

The tractor-trailer was transporting four finned predators from Marathon, Florida, to the New York Aquarium in Coney Island when a tire blew out on Interstate 95 and sent the truck careening into a stand of trees. And one of the fish went flying in the wreck, a Florida Highway Patrol spokeswoman said.

“One shark was thrown out, or it jumped out — we don’t know,” said Sgt. Kim Montes.

It may be the first time a shark has died in a car crash, according to a principal from the company transporting the fish.

“I don’t know of one in particular,” said Dynasty Marine Transportation founder Forrest Young. “We’ve been doing for many years, and I hate to claim to be the first guy that this happened to.”

A team from nearby Sea World rescued the three surviving swimmers and is caring for them at the Orlando attraction.

“The animals are currently stable and are doing well,” said Sea World aquarium curator Jim Kinsler. “The rescue team and our aquarists are continuing around the clock care for each shark as long as needed to ensure their health and success.”

The aquatic-animal theme park will care for the sharks until the New York Aquarium in Coney Island make new transportation arrangements, according to a press release from Sea World.

Emergen-sea!: Rescuers rush the remaining sharks from the crash site to nearby Sea World for care.
Sea World

The bizarre crash ignited a frenzy among local and national press, Montes said.

“I was here when Tiger Woods crashed, and I’ve gotten more phone calls on these sharks than Tiger Woods,” she said, referring to the golfer’s 2009 collision with a fire hydrant and tree as he fled his enraged, golf-club-swinging wife.

The flying fish is reminiscent of “Sharknado” the 2013 made-for-television movie in which sharks sucked into a waterspout mete out flying ferocity in Los Angeles.

Land-dwelling sharks are not unheard of in the Sunshine State, where Florida wildlife activist James W. Buffet first brought attention to their plight in 1979.

If the sharks resume their trip on I-95, they will pass within one mile of a Jacksonville brewery that produces LandShark brand beer.

But Brooklynites need not fear unsolicited plumbers or candygram men — the land shark bound for Coney Island is definitely dead, according to officials. No humans were injured in the collision, officials said.

The aquarium is still shoring up its long-promised sharks exhibit after Hurricane Sandy washed over the facility in 2012. The accident will not affect the exhibit’s expected 2016 opening date, a spokeswoman said.

It has been a rough week for Coney Island sea life — a dead whale washed ashore in Brighton Beach on June 8.

C’est fin: Rescuers from Orlando theme park Sea World release one of the surviving sharks into a temporary holding tank for observation before it continues on to Coney Island.
Sea World

Reach reporter Max Jaeger at mjaeger@cnglocal.com or by calling (718) 260–8303. Follow him on Twitter @JustTheMax.