Video: Swimmer bitten by 7-foot great white shark off California coast

On Saturday, July 5, a swimmer was bitten by an "agitated" great white shark near the Manhattan Beach pier, south of Los Angeles in Southern California. The man was bitten in the torso and sustained chest lacerations from the bite on his right side, and a broken artery in his right thumb. But he survived.

"I had no time to react, it just happened so quick," victim Steven Robles told the local NBC News affiliate. "I used my hand to grab his nose, pried him off me… For just a second I thought this was it. I was really scared."

Robles spent 8 hours in the emergency room at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. He has since been released from the hospital.

Here is video, and LAist has posted a bunch of photos which I found too upsetting to look at. Sounds like the fast actions of fellow swimmers and paddleboarders helped Robles survive, by getting him to shore, and to medical attention, fast.

From CNN's report:

[The International Shark Attack File] says on its website that in 2013 there were 72 unprovoked shark attacks on humans, actually the lowest number of global attacks since 2009, when 67 attacks occurred.

The research organization emphasized on its website that an increasing number of shark attacks doesn't mean the rate of attacks is increasing. ISAF research shows people are spending more time at sea, which increases the interactions between humans and sharks.

Photo: Mimi Miller via KTLA


Photo: Mimi Miller via KTLA