Victim: Great White Shark Just 'Locked on My Chest'

Long distance swimmer in California is alive to tell the tale
By Polly Davis Doig,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 6, 2014 7:19 AM CDT
Calif. Shark Bite Victim: It Just 'Locked on My Chest'
This 2010 file photo shows a juvenile great white shark. A similar creature bit a long distance swimmer yesterday morning in Southern California.   (AP Photo/www.SportFishingMA.com, Bruce Sweet)

We suppose that if one is going to get bitten by a great white shark, a baby one is the way to go. Long distance swimmer Steve Robles is not only alive to talk about it, he's in stable condition after being bit by a 7-foot juvenile great white that was hooked on a fishing line. "It lunged at my chest, and it locked on my chest," he tells ABC News. "I was pretty much in shock and screaming the whole time. More than anything, I was just terrified."

Witnesses and officials say the shark was thrashing around and trying to free itself. "We think the swimmer just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time," a witness tells the AP. Fishermen eventually cut the animal loose; NBC News notes that fishing has been suspended in the Manhattan Beach area, near Los Angeles, until Tuesday. (More great white shark stories.)

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