CORAL GABLES, FLA. (WSVN) - A victim of a shark attack on Haulover Beach spoke to 7News, Tuesday.
Before Sunday afternoon, there were only 15 recorded shark attacks in Miami-Dade coastal waters. Forty-four-year-old Elvin Lanza suffered injuries as a result of the attack and had to be hospitalized.
He was sent home Monday night.
Lanza said he was swimming in the waters off Haulover Beach when he heard that there was a shark in the water.
“It’s near and [he] says, ‘Don’t move. It’s near you,’ and [he] says, ‘Wait, it’s near you,’ and [the shark] moved and attacked me,” Lanza said.
When he tried to swim back to shore, the shark sunk its teeth onto Lanza’s legs.
Lanza received at least 21 stitches as a result of the bite, which officials believe to have been from a bull shark.
“Bull sharks just occur in South Florida waters all year-round, so it’s not uncommon to encounter them,” said researcher Jeremy Kiszka. “Bites are extremely rare, particularly here.”
“Now, I’m very lucky,” said Lanza. “I’m here. For me, it’s good.”
Lanza said the shark bite did not hurt, and instead, his focus was getting back to shore safely.
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