A man has recalled the scary moment his head ended up inside the jaws of a shark and the terrifying ‘crunch’ he heard.
Mark Sumersett miraculously lived to tell the tale after falling off his surfboard while having fun in the water at a beach in Florida, which has been dubbed the shark bite capital in the US.
When the 38-year-old found himself under the water and tried to clamber back onto his surfboard, he felt the shark grab hold of his face while at New Smyrna Beach on Tuesday morning (12 September) at around 8 a.m.
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Thankfully, the shark didn’t turn Sumersett’s head into lunch as the beast immediately let the poor lad go instead of coming back for a second chomp.
Summersett managed to scamper back to shore - albeit with blood pouring from his head - in search of help.
A beach goer called 911 and emergency services rushed to Sumersett’s aid. He had to have more than 20 stitches at the hospital and will probably have a scar from his run-in with the shark.
But given just how close he came to death, it could have been a lot worse than a scar.
Not many people have had their heads between the jaws of a shark and Sumersett has now captured the world’s attention with his survival tale.
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He opened up about the stomach-churning sound he heard during the ordeal in a number of interviews with local news stations.
Speaking to NBC affiliate channel WESH, Sumersett said: “It was pressure and I’ll tell you that pressure, it was like a crunch. I heard the crunch. It felt like a bear trap crunching on face.”
He has been left with large gashes on the right side of his face and several wounds close to his chin and mouth.
In another interview with Fox 35, Sumersett said he got ‘a gnarly battle wound’ and ‘streaks’ of gashes, but is lucky to be alive.
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“It was definitely a fight or flight situation,’” he shared. I was like, “What do you do?”
“You don’t know what to do when a shark bites you. This doesn’t happen this often. God has a reason for me to be here. And that’s to help other people on this earth. I’m just so grateful. He got me good.”
Sumersett said he feared that the shark would come after him again. “I jumped on my board and paddled in. I thought that sucker was going to come back for me. I thought he was ‘cause I was bleeding so bad.”
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Despite the horrific ordeal, he hasn’t been put off surfing and plans to get back into the water as soon as he’s healed up.
“Heck yeah, I’m [still] going surfing,” he declared. “I love it. There’s nothing in the world that makes me feel better than surfing.”
While it isn't known what type of shark attacked the surfer, species such as tiger sharks and bull sharks are known to be native to the waters of Florida.
Featured Image Credit: WESHTopics: Shark Attacks, Sharks, US News