“It felt like a bear trap crunching on my face,” Sumersett said of the moment the shark’s teeth tore into his face.
A South Carolina surfer has displayed the gruesome facial scars he got this week when a shark bit him in the waters off the coast of Florida — recalling the terrifying “crunch” as it crunched his face “like a bear trap.
” “It was the scariest thing I’ve probably ever been through in my life. I’ve been in bad car accidents. Nothing like this,” Mark Sumersett, 38,of the close encounter that took place when he came off his surfboard in waters off New Smyrna Beach just before 8 a.m. Tuesday. “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 my face,” Sumersett, who lives in Charleston, said of the moment the shark’s teeth tore into his face. The toothy creature quickly released him, he recalled, but not before taking a large chunk out of the right side of his face. “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,” Sumersett said of his desperate escape.He was taken to a hospital, but was released after receiving about 20 stitches to the gashes on his face. Sumersett’s injury marks the seventh shark bite in Volusia County this year — and is the first face bite on record,Sumersett’s father shared a photo on Facebook of the doctors sewing up the grisly skin tears from the attack — one the surfer said he had a premonition about. “I had a feeling. I had a feeling I was going to get bit yesterday. I really did. Honestly, I had intuition,” Sumersett, who came down to Florida to enjoy the waves from Hurricane Lee on Monday.WESHHe now thinks the shark may have noticed the gold chain on his neck and mistaken him for food while trawling in the seven-foot zone of white water.“Heck yeah, I’m going surfing again,” he said. Sumersett said the attack will not prevent him from surfing again.Other surfboarders in the area expressed similar intentions not to let the fear of shark bites deter them from getting in the water. “Nine out of 10 times, it’s because [the surfers] fall in the shallow water and spook the shark, and it’s a reaction bite. It’s not like the shark just comes after them,” longtime surfer Rob Robinson, who arrived at New Smyrna Beach shortly after the attack on Sumersett, told the outlet. “They’re just critters looking for food, you know? Like me and you. And when you go in the water, you enter the food chain,” another surfer, Daniel Hanson, added.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
2023 Range Rover From 1016 Industries Is A True Silver SurferA silver aluminum wrap and a set of massive 26-inch wheel make this Range Rover stand out
Read more »
Florida man, 72, dies while surfing in Daytona Beach as rip currents churnA 72-year-old surfer in Daytona Beach, Florida, died after falling off his surfboard Monday, according to Volusia County Beach Safety.
Read more »
Shark bites South Carolina surfer's face at popular Florida beach, officials sayA South Carolina man was reportedly bitten by a shark on a popular Florida beach Tuesday morning, officials confirmed.
Read more »
Shark bites surfer in the face off Florida’s New Smyrna BeachThe man had been bitten on the right side of his cheek, between his ear and eye when he hopped off his board after riding a wave, one surfer said.
Read more »
Jason Blum Dives Into ABC's Shark Tank S15, Leads Guest Shark ListJason Blum leads a new cast of guest sharks on the upcoming 15th season of ABC's hit series Shark Tank, premiering on September 29th.
Read more »