A 19-year-old girl was brutally attacked by a shark last month while on vacation with her family in Galveston, Texas. Damiana Humphrey and her siblings were waist-deep in water when her sister-in-law noticed something tan moving in the waves. Humphrey recalled that she turned around and "a shark grabbed onto my hand."
"I looked down and there was a shark attached to my hand, so I guess I started punching it. That part is kind of blurry to me," she recounted. She said that the shark, which measured between four and five feet long, later released her and swam away as she hurried out of the water with her siblings.
Almost Got Killed
Seeing the severe bite, her family quickly dialed 911, and first responders arrived to take Damiana to the hospital. There, she underwent immediate surgery on her hand. The shark severed four tendons, and while she is expected to fully recover, she will be unable to use her hand for several weeks.
Consequently, she has had to relinquish her patient care technician position for the summer.
Doctors have assured the teenager that she will make a full recovery with the aid of physical therapy.
"Honestly, I'm just glad it wasn't as bad as it could have been," Damiana said, adding that she is also relieved her siblings were not bitten.
The Beach Patrol Chief for the area, Peter Davis, told Fox26 Houston that despite Humphrey's frightening encounter, "shark bites are really uncommon for us here in Galveston."
"I've worked a few of them in my career and the ones I've seen were shark bites, not attacks. Meaning it was a case of mistaken identity where they latched onto a human and swam away it sounds like this may have been similar to that," he said.
Encounter With Death
While shark attacks are rare, it doesn't mean there aren't a significant number of sharks off the coast of Texas. Blacktip and spinner sharks sometimes appear tan-ish in color, making it likely that one of these two types was responsible for biting Damiana.
Shark encounters tend to increase in the summer due to higher numbers of people in the water.
Experts recommend several tips to prevent shark attacks, including: shuffling your feet when walking in the ocean to alert sharks of your presence, avoiding areas where rivers meet the ocean because sharks may prey on fish there, steering clear of swimming near schools of fish, refraining from entering the water if bleeding, and fighting off a shark if attacked.
Humphrey reacted appropriately by punching her attacker, as hitting a shark on its nose or gills might cause it to release its grip.
