Fought a shark in shallow water and saved his pregnant fiancée

A Florida resident is hospitalized, recovering from complex emergency surgery, after sustaining a severe shark bite last Saturday in Daytona Beach, a popular coastal city in the state. The dramatic incident occurred during a family vacation while the man and his pregnant fiancée were in waist-deep water. According to a report by the FOX 10 network, as soon as he noticed the approaching danger, the man acted quickly to repel the threat and move his fiancée to a safe area.

In a conversation with the media, the man, identified as Hay, recounted the moments of terror:

«I suddenly felt a sharp bite on my left foot. I realized immediately it was a shark, but the thing I was most worried about was getting my fiancée out of the water.»

In an interview with The Mirror newspaper, he added that he fought the shark and pushed it away after the predator tried to grab his hand and his other leg as well. Hay managed to get out to the beach on his own, and said that only when he reached medical care did he feel the full intensity of the pain.

Medical teams summoned to the scene rushed him to a local hospital, where he underwent a series of surgical procedures. The attending physicians noted that the bite caused extensive tissue damage and that the initial recovery process may take about three months. The extent of long-term rehabilitation is still being assessed, and the injured man expressed hope that the injury would not leave permanent damage that would prevent him from returning to his work.

Official sources and marine experts in Florida have not yet determined with certainty the type of shark involved in the attack. However, they emphasized that unprovoked shark attacks are extremely rare events, amounting to only about 60 to 65 cases per year worldwide.