A man swimming off the coast of California was severely injured Wednesday after being attacked by a shark, but thankfully, others heard his cries for help.
The swimmer was enjoying the water at Lovers Point Beach in Pacific Grove when the incident occurred, Today reported on Thursday.
However, Aimee Johns and Paul Bandy were paddleboarding nearby when they heard him calling out and splashing in the water.
“As soon as we got close to him, we could see that he had severe lacerations on his arm and leg,” Bandy recalled.
A surfer named Heath Braddock also heard the commotion, so he grabbed a few boards and took them out to the scene where he saw a lot of blood.
Video caught the moment the three individuals placed the man on a board and rushed back to shore. Moments later, more beachgoers ran toward the group to offer assistance before emergency crews arrived:
Bandy works as a police officer and Johns works as a nurse, so their knowledge helped in the situation.
“Paul was calling, ‘Tourniquet, tourniquet.’ So people knew on the shore already in advance to have things that they could use,” Johns explained.
“And so people jumped right in. There was a physician that was there, a nurse, myself and some other bystanders (who) really helped out a lot,” she added.
Additional video footage showed the citizens working together to get the victim farther up the shore:
Officials were unable to locate the shark following the incident.
In a social media post on Wednesday, the Pacific Grove Police Department said the beaches would be closed until Saturday as a precaution, adding the victim was taken for treatment, but officials do not have an update on the person’s condition.
“Thank you to CA State Parks, Monterey Fire Department, AMR, CERT, Dept of Fish and Wildlife, and the US Coast Guard for their response and continued assistance, as well as the citizens who jumped in to help,” the department continued.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the victim and their family,” it concluded.
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