A SURFER has described the disturbing crunch sound that he heard as a shark sank its teeth into his head.
Mark Sumersett, 38, suffered injuries to both sides of his face in the attack at a beach that has been dubbed the shark bite capital of the US.
A shark sank its teeth into Mark Sumersett’s face as he surfed at New Smyrna Beach, Florida[/caption]
“It was the scariest thing I’ve probably ever been through in my life,” he told Orlando NBC affiliate WESH.
“I’ve been in bad car accidents. Nothing like this.”
Sumersett is the seventh person who has been attacked so far this year in Volusia County, Florida.
He was riding a wave near the jetty at at New Smyrna Beach and didn’t see the shark as it came at him with its ferocious teeth.
The beast clamped onto his face, tearing into the right side of his head near his mouth.
Sumersett also suffered injuries to the left side of his face, with the wound covering nearly the entire area from his eye to his jawline.
He was rushed to the hospital, where he got 20 or so stitches.
“It was pressure, and I’ll tell you that pressure, it was like a crunch,” he said of the moment that he felt the shark bite down on him.
“I heard the crunch. It felt like a bear trap crunching on my face.”
Sumersett came to town on Monday to ride the waves sent by Hurricane Lee and said he saw several sharks that first day.
Because of this, he felt uneasy about getting into the water.
“I had a feeling. I had a feeling I was going to get bit yesterday. I really did. Honestly, I had intuition,” he said.
It was a quick bite, said Sumersett and the shark quickly released him but he began bleeding a lot and was scared that the animal wouldn’t leave him alone.
“I jumped on my board and paddled in. I thought that sucker was going to come back for me,” he said.
“I thought he was ‘cause I was bleeding so bad.”
Shark attacks have been common in Volusia County for years, mostly on hands, feet, ankles, and thighs.
However, a bite to the face is quite rare.
Many people consider New Smyrna Beach to be the shark bite capital of the world with five reported incidents there.
Two other incidents happened in the same county on Labor Day.
There have been 58 shark bites worldwide so far this year, with 31 taking place in the US, according to trackingsharks.com.
Eight of these incidents were provoked and seven were fatal.
Sumersett thinks his gold chain might have caught the shark’s attention.
It’s possible the animal may have thought he was food.
Despite the close encounter, Sumersett said once he heals, he’s getting back in the water.
“Heck yeah I’m going surfing,” he told the outlet.
“Because I love it. There’s nothing in the world that makes me feel better than surfing.”
He called it the ‘scariest’ thing that’s ever happened to him[/caption]
September 14, 2023 at 05:48AM
from The Sun