A Florida spearfisherman says he survived a lightning-fast shark attack thanks to a friend who came face to face with the ocean predator.
Jose Abreu, 37, WSVN Television He was spearfishing near a reef off the coast of Key West on Monday when a bull shark suddenly swam up to him and bit him multiple times.
“He was too fast, too fast,” Abreu told the station about the 8-foot shark. “I can only say that this is the end for me.”
Abreu said the shark bit him on the leg and shoulder and tried to chew through his chest, but the attack lasted just 13 seconds, and his only chance to survive was to run away.
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A man was reportedly bitten by a bull shark while spearfishing off the coast of Key West, Florida, on Monday. (Luis Javier Sandoval/VW Pics/Universal Images Group via Getty Images, File)
“There’s no time to be scared,” Abreu said. WTVJ-Television. “You have to run away from the sharks. That’s your only option.”
Abreu said he was lucky he was in the water with a friend, who swam up to the shark and poked it in the mouth with an underwater gun, scaring it away before calling for help.
Abreu said he escaped the encounter thanks to a friend who attacked the shark with an underwater gun. The Seven Mile Bridge, pictured above, connects the many islands that make up the Florida Keys. (iStock)
Abreu believes that without his brave friends, he may not have survived.
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“He saved my life,” Abreu told WSVN.
Abreu was treated on land at Stock Island and then airlifted to a hospital in Miami, according to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office.
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According to local media, Abreu is expected to recover from his injury.
