Fox News Digital has compiled six incredible stories of shark attack victims who survived to tell this story.
New York’s Rockaway Beach closed after swimmer Tatyana Koltunyuk, 65, lost “about 20 pounds of meat” to a stray shark, according to the New York Post.
The outlet also received a gruesome photo of the woman’s thigh missing a giant bite of flesh after the Aug. 7 incident. She was taken to a nearby hospital in Jamaica and survived the attack.
Koltunyuk underwent at least surgeries after the attack and faces permanent disability, according to a GoFundMe set up through his family.
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Tatyana Koltunyuk, 65, lost about 20 pounds of flesh from her upper left thigh when she attacked through a shark on New York’s Rockaway Beach on Aug. 7, according to authorities. (GoFundMe)
Police respond at Rockaway Beach on 59th Street in Queens, New York, after a swimmer was attacked by a shark on Monday, August 7, 2023 (Photo by Gardiner Anderson for NY Daily News via Getty Images).
Two swimmers were bitten at the same Florida beach over Labor Day weekend – both victims survived, and it is unclear whether they were attacked by the same shark.
One victim, a 37-year-old woman from Apopka, Florida, was bitten on the right foot while swimming in the shallow waters of Ponce Inlet, the Volusia County Beach Safety Unit showed Fox 35 Orlando at the time. She never saw the shark that bit her.
The second victim, a man in his 30s, was bitten on the left hand near the Ponce Inlet dock. He refused medical attention at the scene and went himself to an area hospital, the outlet reported.
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A shark hits a photographer’s lens during an excursion with dive company Emerald Charters off Jupiter Inlet, Fla. , May 18, 2022. (REUTERS/Sam Wolfe)
Mark Sumersett, 38, of South Carolina, detailed his unforeseen encounter with the shark that bit his face on Sept. 12 while he was vacationing in Florida.
“I bit a dog when I was little, and it’s kind of like a bear trap that ends up on top of me,” the surfer told Fox 35 Orlando of the interaction at famed New Smyrna Beach. “It’s definitely a fight. “
Sumersett earned 12 points on his cheek and chin after the matchup.
“God has an explanation for me why I’m here. And it is for others on this earth,” he said. I’m very grateful. “
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Mark Summerset is “so grateful” to be alive after a shark bit him in the face on a Florida beach in September. (RENARD 35 Orlando)
Mark Summerset got 12 stitches to his cheek and chin after the attack, which he compared to a dog bite he sustained as a child. (FOX 35 Orlando)
A Florida woman swimming off the Gulf Coast in St. Petersburg on Sept. 30 said she was lucky to be alive after a shark grabbed her belly.
Natalie Branda, 26, gained 14 stitches in her back and after the near-death incident.
“We jumped off the boat, swam for a few hours. We were having a fun day,” Branda told FOX thirteen Tampa Bay. “I just felt pressure, she let go of me and I said, ‘Me. ‘”I’ve been bitten. I swam as fast as I could to the boat. “
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A drone-flying Florida YouTuber captured a bull shark’s attack on his friend’s boat late this July. Josh Jorgensen, who produces videos for the BlacktipH Fishing channel, caught the animal’s eight attacks on the small vessel off the Palm Beach coast.
Jorgensen said he was following his boat with his drone because his friend was chasing down two Cobia, which he calls “the tastiest fish in the ocean.” But then, a bull shark appeared, turning its sights to the boat’s engine.
“I didn’t think a shark could rock a ship like that,” the boat’s pilot, Carl Torresson, said in a later interview. “The boat was shaking like a bag of popcorn. Literally, I was shaking like an earthquake. . . And I said, ‘Are you kidding me?It’s like a trip from Universal Studios. ‘”
After the ordeal, the men said, the entire engine had been ripped out entirely.
A MASSIVE 1,700-POUND GREAT WHITE SHARK FOLLOWED JUST OFF THE COAST OF THE U. S. U. S.
A Florida surfer attributed his survival to his friend’s ingenuity after seeing the water “turn red” from the 21-year-old’s blood.
Reece Redish was watching Chris Pospisil from the shore of a New Smyrna beach in July when a shark “came out from underneath” the latter and “knocked him off [his] board. “”I saw my foot in his mouth and he dragged me in. ” Pospisil told FOX 35 Orlando.
Redish jumped into the water, swam to his friend, and brought the surfer back to his board.
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“I’m not going to leave my friend in the water,” Redish told the outlet. “I’m willing to take risks with anyone. “
The surfer suffered a major injury to his left foot: seven tendons and some small arteries had to be surgically repaired. A skin graft was created to cover the wound and several pieces of shark teeth were injured and trapped in Pospisil’s bone.
However, despite his ordeal, the 21-year-old intends to continue surfing, he told the outlet.
Christina Coulter is a U.S. and World reporter for Fox News Digital. Email story tips to [email protected].