Man bitten by shark escaped by punching it in gills

A MAN bitten by a shark off Cape Cod this month said he escaped by punching the powerful predator in the gills after it clamped down on his leg.

In his first interview since the August 15 attack, William Lytton said he had been swimming in about “eight to 10 feet” of water off Truro, Massachusetts, when he felt an incredible pain shoot through his left leg and quickly realised he was being attacked by a shark.

The 61-year-old neurologist from Scarsdale, New York, said he gave the animal a strong smack in the gills with his left hand, a move that likely saved his life but also resulted in some torn tendons.

He now sports an arm cast as well as bandages and a brace around most of his left leg.

“I initially was terrified, but, really, there was no time to think,” he said, recounting the ordeal following a physical therapy session at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Boston, where he has been since Sunday.

“It doesn’t feel like I did anything heroic. A lot of this was luck.”

Mr Lytton said he must have recalled from nature documentaries that the gills were one of the most vulnerable parts of the shark.

After the animal broke its grip, he took a few strong stokes back to shore where he shouted for help. Someone alerted his wife, who had been on the beach with their two young daughters and family friends.

Other beachgoers – including off-duty nurses and other medical professionals – helped stem the bleeding and carried him up the dunes to the beach parking lot as he started to lose consciousness from the blood loss.