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.
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“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 at around 7.50am on Tuesday at New Smyrna Beach then jumped off his board into the water.
Sumersett didn’t see the shark as it came at him with its ferocious teeth.
‘I HEARD THE CRUNCH’
The beast clamped onto his face, tearing into the right side of his head near his mouth and leaving behind a two-inch gash.
Sumersett suffered worse 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 from South Carolina on Monday to take on waves that resulted from Hurricane Lee.
He said he saw several sharks that day and felt a bit 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.
He feared that the animal would come back for more after detecting the blood.
“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 BITE CAPITAL
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 in 2023, with 31 taking place in the US, according to trackingsharks.com.
Eight were provoked and seven were fatal.
Sumersett thinks his gold chain might have caught the shark’s attention.
It’s also possible that the animal may have thought he was food.
Despite coming face-to-face with the shark, Sumersett said that he still plans on getting back in the water after he heals.
“Heck yeah, I’m [still] going surfing,” he told WESH.
“I love it. There’s nothing in the world that makes me feel better than surfing.”
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