(WSVN) - A woman’s foot was bloodied, then bandaged up after a terrifying shark strike off Dry Tortugas.
Heather West said she was enjoying a snorkeling trip back in January and was unaware of the danger in the water.
The victim described her harrowing ordeal as she got into the fight of her life for her foot.
“I was really overwhelmed with this ominous feeling, and something in me was like, ‘Get out!'” she said.
West knew she should head back to shore, but she didn’t know what was lurking beneath a patch of sea grass.
“Once I turned to get out, I felt something grab onto my leg, and I didn’t feel any pain or anything. It just felt like a vice grip, a very, very strong vice grip,” she said.
A six-foot lemon shark clamped down on the snorkeler’s foot without appearing too eager to let go.
A video showed the aftermath.
“His yanks were very powerful, and when he yanked me the second time, he freaked out and got really irate. I thought, ‘If he yanks one more time, that foot’s gone,'” she said, “and the whole time I was thinking, ‘This is mine; you cannot have this.'”
So West fought and kicked using her free foot.
When that didn’t work, she used her fists.
“I got really angry, and I sat up, and I started punching him,” said West.
The shark finally let go and left West free to head toward her friends, who were swimming toward her.
That, she said, was the scariest part.
“My immediate concern was, I didn’t want him to bite me again and take something else away from me, and I immediately turned back around and screamed, ‘Come get me!'” said West.
Her friends flagged down help, and West was ultimately airlifted to Key West for stitches.
The doctor managed to save her foot completely. West thanks her flippers for that.
“The top teeth didn’t – the fins prevented the top teeth from going all the way in and getting good contact with my foot,” she said. “I do have five puncture wounds. No rips, just puncture wounds.”
The experience has not changed West’s view of the ocean or even sharks.
“I will absolutely be back in the water,” she said.
The same shark was reportedly sighted a few days earlier near the shore hunting a pelican, which is pretty unusual.
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