A teenage girl who survived a shark attack at a Florida beach recounted that her first instinct was to punch the fish in the nose.
The attack happened at Keaton Beach in northwestern Florida's Taylor County on Thursday. The teen was scalloping in water approximately 5 feet deep near Grassy Island, just of Keaton Beach, when she was bitten by the shark, according to the Taylor County Sheriff's Office.
"She came back up and I saw, like, the blood and everything, and I saw the shark," Willingham told"Good Morning America.""So then I swam over there, grabbed her, and then pushed them all, kind of trying to separate them. And he just kept coming. So I grabbed her, swam backwards and kicked him and then yelled for help."
Tallahassee Memorial Hospital initially listed her in critical condition. Doctors performed emergency surgery and were able to stabilize the teen, who suffered extensive damage to her right leg, according to the hospital. The sheriff's office said the type of shark that attacked was unclear but it was described as approximately 9 feet long.
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