Two rowing boats and a surfer rushed to rescue a swimmer on a beach on the Central Coast of California after hearing his panicked cries for help as he was attacked by a great white shark.
The swimmer said in a statement later that he was incredibly lucky that people came to the rescue.
“He was screaming for help. “The sound and the emotion in his voice showed that something was definitely wrong and he was slapping the water,” Paul Bandy told KSBW-TV in Monterey.
Bandy, a police officer, was paddling with his wife, a nurse, when they heard the swimmer’s screams on Wednesday at the popular Lovers Point Beach in Pacific Grove, south of Monterey. They were in town on vacation, celebrating their wedding anniversary.
The swimmer, 62-year-old Stephen Brumer, a member of a swimming club that often uses the beach, had bites on his legs and torso.
Bundy and others pulled him ashore and provided first aid before he was rushed to Natividad Medical Center in Salinas.
“The shark bite was unfortunate. But then … I was so lucky, “Bruemer said in a statement Thursday to KION-TV in Monterey.
“The day was so calm and warm and the beach was crowded. There were no waves and no chop. “So that people can hear me shout ‘Help’ from a long distance,” he added.
Bundy and his wife “knew what to do” when they came to his aid, Brumer said. A surfer teaching a shore safety class also jumped into the water with his board and brought an extra with him to help attract Bruemmer.
“Several passers-by, including a doctor and a nurse who were on the beach for the day, helped put on turnstiles and take me to the ambulance,” he said.
“I remember … lying in the ambulance and thinking, ‘My lungs are fine. I can breathe. … He seemed really lucky that the shark took me to a place that looked survivable, “Brumer added.
Despite severe injuries to his legs and abdomen, he is expected to recover. The doctors operated on him for two hours. DNA tests confirmed he was attacked by a great white shark, according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Doctors attribute the good Samaritans to saving his life. Dr Nicholas Rotler told KION that Brumer was lucky to have no broken bones, no damaged organs and no major arteries. There is a clear sign of a U-ringed shark bite around his pelvis, Rothler told KION.
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