A Florida shark attack happened to a 14-year-old boy who surfs everyday in New Smynra Beach, a place known as the “shark capital” of America. Tristan Durham met up with the shark while he was in ocean waters Wednesday. He suffered severe lacerations to his right foot and was hospitalized following the incident. He’s now recovering at Halifax Hospital.
Several ligaments and tendons in the teen’s foot were torn from the massive bites.
Tristan tells WESH 2 News that he didn’t see the actual shark during the attack , but he saw signs of it, as he describes in the video. He noticed large fish swimming around and a lot of birds diving for them in the water. When the young surfer fell off his board, he was fully submerged in the water — that’s when the shark swam up to him and grabbed his foot.
Tristan isn’t afraid to go back into the water, however. He says:
“I’m not going to stop surfing because of one shark. I’ll be out there when it heals.”
When the 14-year-old realized he was in the middle of a shark attack, he tried letting loose from it. He explains:
“I started ripping my foot away from it, and it wouldn’t let go, so I just had to rip it out of its mouth.”
The boy hurried back to shore once he was able to get his food unclenched from the shark’s mouth. He recalls the adrenaline running though him:
“At first, when I got bit, it didn’t hurt as bad. I was all adrenaline, so when I was paddling in, I didn’t even feel it.”
Tristan shares that he was grossed out by the look of his wound. He recalls:
“I felt really weird. I didn’t want to look at it again. I was going to pass out.”
The Patriot News reports that Tristan is from Edgewater , Florida and that the doctor says his lacerations from the attack will take six weeks to heal. The lacerations were on both sides of his right foot. One large wound is on the smaller toes of his foot while the other is on the left-side of his heel. Jagged tooth marks can be seen on top of his foot from the shark’s bite.
This is the fifth Florida shark attack in Volusia county for 2014. All attacks reported in the county were in the same area of water.
[Image via Pennlive.com ]
