Dillon Bowen was bitten by shark in North Carolina on Saturday.
The 18-year-old had been swimming in water that was three feet deep around 2:30 p.m. when he was bitten on the right wrist by a shark.
He was standing in the waist-deep water, just west of the Atlantic Beach Circle, with a friend and his younger brother who first spotted the three foot shark.
“As soon as I turned around, it grabbed me and I went to go swing and I hit it and it let me go and it was just a mess of blood.” Bowen told WITN.
Bowen added “It just happened so quick and I was in such a shock, it just scared me.”
He was taken to Carteret General Hospital for treatment and received 26 stitches in his wrist, but will need surgery and physical therapy.
The beach remained open.
There have been a total of thirty-seven shark attacks bites in 2016. Five of which were fatal. Thirteen total in the US, with ten occurring in Florida. Nine have occurred in Australia, three of which were fatal.
All locations have been marked on the 2016 shark attack bites tracking map.
