Alejo Santinaque, a 20-year-old surfer bitten by a shark off the coast of Australia, reveals how he was able to survive the terrifying attack.
The shark attack happened while he was waiting for a wave while sitting on his surfboard close to Red Cliff, a beach on the north coast of New South Wales. Santinaque, from Uruguay, shared the simple, yet miraculous, way he survived the ordeal in a recent social media post.
“I’m the surfer who was involved in the shark attack a few days ago. I’ve seen a few people asking what happened, so I wanted to share the story from my perspective,” he wrote in a Facebook post.
He said that while sitting on his surfboard, he “suddenly felt a hard hit and a strong pull” on his foot. It was the shark.
Quick thinking and staying calm helped save his life
“Everything happened incredibly fast — I don’t think more than two seconds passed between the bite and my reaction,” he continued. “It pulled me into the water, and my immediate response was to kick it as hard as I could to make it let go. At some point, it became tangled in my leash, which ended up separating from the board because of the force of the pull.
“Once it let go, I swam as fast as I could towards my board and the shore, which luckily were in the same direction. Those moments were extremely intense because I had no idea if the shark would come back, so my only focus was getting out of the water.”
Despite the scary situation he found himself in, he said he “managed to stay calm the entire time,” adding that “keeping a clear head was crucial.”
“Fortunately, my friends were nearby. As soon as I reached the shore, they helped me immediately and applied a tourniquet until the ambulance arrived. I’m incredibly grateful to them for acting so quickly and staying calm under pressure,” Santinaque continued.
He knows he ‘got off lightly’ and has a new appreciation for life
“Considering what could have happened, I was very lucky. The bite tore through skin and muscle, ruptured one tendon and damaged a few others, but it missed any major arteries. Looking at how serious shark attacks can be, I know I got off lightly.”
Despite suffering a serious injury and getting the scare of a lifetime, he said the experience has given him “an even greater appreciation for life.”
He also doesn’t hold any ill will towards the shark, because, after all, “the ocean is its home, and we are the ones entering its environment.”
“Sharks are not villains or monsters,” he added. “They are wild animals and an essential part of the marine ecosystem. What happened was a very unfortunate accident, but it doesn’t change the love and respect I have for the ocean.”