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Need to know
- A Florida -Surfare recovers at a local hospital after his left arm was bitten by a shark on Sunday 6 July
- Matthew Bender told a local news outlet that it felt like “electricity” that ran through his body when the shark attacked him on New Smyrna Beach in Volusia County
- “I felt it pinches like a bear trap from nowhere,” reminded the surfer, still planning to return to the water
A Florida -man has entered hospital after being attacked by a shark in what is called “Shark Bite Capital of the World.”
Matthew Bender, from Winter Park, bitten by a shark on Sunday July 6 while browsing New Smyrna Beach, according to Fox affiliate wofl.
Volusia County Beach Safety Ocean Rescue said the 40-year-old was bitten around 15:00 local time, according to South Florida Sun Sentinel and NBC Affiliate Wesh.
Bender told Woffl that he “never saw the shark”, who bit his left arm “vigorously” and left it seriously injured from the thumb to the elbow. He said the bite “felt like electricity.”
“I felt it stuck like a bear trap from nowhere. When I looked down, it was already gone,” Bender. He thought the shark “shook his head” before he let go and added: “It was fast too.”
In the vicinity of surfers and lifeguards rushed to Bender’s help, according to the surfer. He said that one of the surfers used a surfboard leash to create a tournament.
The surfer was transported to a hospital after the bite, according to Wesh and Sun Sentinel.
Bender said he underwent acute surgery to repair muscles, tendons and nerves damaged in the attack, Wofl reported. He said, “It’s a miracle that my hand is still working well.”
“I think the Lord prevented it from being serious. I mean, he works in mysterious ways,” the surfer told the news outlet.
But Bender does not plan to let the shark attack prevent him from getting back into the water.
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“For some reason I have to take a little break, but I’ll be back out there,” he told Wofl. “I’m a new Smyrna -Surfer in my heart, and it won’t end now just because of this.”
Volusia County officials did not immediately respond to people’s request for comment.
Volusia County is considered the unofficial “Shark Bite Capital of the World”, according to International shark attack file in Gainesville.
Eight shark pieces were reported in the county in 2024, more than half of the 14 reported in Florida the same year, according to statistics.
