18 September 2023 , 20:45
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A surfer in South Carolina has spoken of the harrowing moment a suspected shark suddenly attacked his face.
Mark Summerset, 38, was suddenly attacked in a rapid assault by a sea creature on September 12. To this day, Mark says he can still feel pain face in his face where the beast sunk its teeth into his flesh.
"I felt this pressure on my face," he told NBC News. "It felt like a bear trap. I think he just ripped down a little bit. But sharks have five rows of teeth, so he tore me up pretty bad, and he let go.”
Mark was surfing in the early morning the day the attack occurred and jumped off his board. He said he saw a sea creature under the waves that then bit his face, but he wasn't sure what it was at the time.
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A DNA swab was taken from Mark's cut (wsvn)He was left with a two-inch cut on his right cheek and was taken to AdventHealth hospital in New Smyrna Beach, according to The Daytona Beach News-Journal. Helicopter footage from the area after the attack on Mike showed sharks swimming in the water.
Mark told Today a DNA swab had been taken from his cut to determine what type of creature bit him. He said he saw around 10 sharks in the area the day before he was bitten.
A total of 32 shark bites have been recorded so far this year, including seven in Florida's Volusia County. Mark is convinced the shark thought his necklace confused the creature that bit him.
Mark was left with a two-inch cut on his right cheek (wsvn)"It thought I was a fish, the scales on the fish," he said. "And he grabbed my face because of that, I believe. I’m almost 100% certain of that.”
He continued: "If I die surfing, I die a happy man. That’s something that I will do and I will carry with me for the rest of my life, and I will never stop surfing."
It comes after a Connecticut couple rescued a baby shark caught in a work glove last week. Deb and Steve Dauphinais, spotted the 16-inch juvenile shark with its head stuck inside a work glove at the bottom of about 35 feet (10 metres) of water.
Deb Dauphinais, a dive instructor, said she thought the shark was dead, but when it twitched she motioned for her husband to come over and help. “He came over and did his own little double-take,” she said.
Thankfully, she said her husband tugged on the glove, which seemed to be suctioned to the shark's head, but it eventually popped free.