A brave lifeguard fought off a shark that attacked him during a training exercise by punching it.
Zack Gallo, who works at Smith Point Beach, New York, suffered agonising bites in the chest and right hand in the horrific encounter
Steve Bellone, Suffolk County executive, said the attack involved a four to five-foot-long shark.
The Long Island lifeguard was taking part in a training exercise on Sunday and was ironically playing the 'victim' when the shark struck - turning him into a very real victim.
Officials say Mr Gallo fought off the massive fish by punching it.
Bellone said at a press call: “He was playing the role of a victim, and in the midst of that, actually became a victim when this shark bite occurred.”
Recovering from his ordeal at home yesterday, the lifeguard told WCBS-TV : “I felt sharp, sharp pain and I knew it was some kind of … once I felt the rubbery texture, I knew it was some kind of shark.”
Mr Gallo said he fought off the shark by “punching down” on it.
“I hit the shark three times. I went boom, boom, boom," he said.
“I guess in the third one it spun back and its tail hit me in the chest.”
Fellow lifeguards who were already in the water for the exercise came to his aid as he was “bleeding significantly,” but was able to walk out of the water unassisted.
He was treated and taken to a nearby hospital.
According to Newsday, Mr Bellone said: “Fortunately, he is doing well, he’s in very good spirits at Southside Hospital … getting some stitches.
“Ironically, if there was any moment to have an interaction with a shark like that, where you end up getting bitten, that is the moment, where he was playing a victim.
"There were actually some of our other lifeguards in this training exercise who are already coming out, and in midst of the incident, he all of a sudden became an actual victim."
The beach was closed down after the attack and authorities were monitoring the water with a drone and saw a shark, but did not know if it was the same one.
Another beach, Cupsogue, east of where the attack happened was also closed yesterday because of "dangerous marine activity" park officials said.
Shark attacks on Long Island “are extremely rare,” county officials said, but they have increased in frequency of late.
The past two years saw more shark sightings than the entire previous decade combined.
The Mirror reported last week how a tourist died after losing an arm and a leg in a horrific shark attack at a popular Egyptian resort.
The Austrian woman, 68, later died from “shock” after the Red Sea horror.
Chilling video footage shows her desperately swimming back to shore after the attack at the resort popular with British tourists.
Videos were filmed by watching Russian tourists who bemoaned the lack of lifeguards or rescuers.
The woman’s blood was seen in the water as she struggled - wearing a flipper - to make her way back to a pier.
