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 with a giant bite of flesh missing after the Aug. 7 incident. She was taken to the nearby Jamaica hospital and she survived the attack.
Koltunyuk underwent at least five surgeries after the attack and faces permanent disability, per a GoFundMe set up by her family.
SHARK WITH MASSIVE CIRCLES ON NERVOUS PADDLEBOARDER’S JAW IN ‘BIZARRE’ IMAGES
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 to Rockaway Beach at Beach 59th Street in Queens, New York City after a swimmer was attacked by a shark on Monday, Aug. 7, 2023. (Photo by Gardiner Anderson for NY Daily News via Getty Images)
Two swimmers were bitten on the same Florida beach over Labor Day weekend. Both survived and it is not known if 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 his left hand near the Ponce Inlet Jetty. He refused medical attention at the scene and drove himself to an area hospital, the outlet reported.
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A shark hits a photographer’s lens during an excursion with diving company Emerald Charters off Jupiter Inlet, Florida, May 18, 2022. (REUTERS/Sam Wolfe)
Mark Sumersett of South Carolina, 38, detailed his unexpected meeting with the shark that bit his face on Sept. 12 during his Florida vacation.
“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 gained 12 stitches to his cheek and chin after the confrontation.
“God has an explanation for me why I’m here. And it is for others on this earth,” he said. “I am 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 received 12 stitches on his cheek and chin after the attack, which he compared to a dog he suffered as a child. (RENARD 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, got 14 stitches across her backside and stomach 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 me go and I said, ‘Yo. ‘ “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 followed his boat with his drone because his friend was chasing two Cobias, which he calls “the tastiest fish in the ocean. “But then a bull shark appeared and turned his gaze 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 this ordeal, the men said, the entire engine had been started.
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A Florida surfer credited his survival to his friend’s quick thinking after seeing the water “turn red” with 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 under” 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 an American and international journalist for Fox News Digital. Send the item to christina. coulter@fox. com.