Hawaiian Surfer Fights Off Shark with Punches in Bloody Water, Loses Foot

A surfer in Hawaii who successfully fought off a shark lost his right foot.

According to the shark attack survivor, he punched the predator as it bit him, and the bloody water spread.

Fighting Off a Tiger Shark with Punches

Just before 7 AM on April 9 in Honolulu, 58-year-old Mike Morita was surfing when an eight-foot tiger shark took a chomp on his right foot, necessitating an amputation.

When Morita described the incident, he claimed that the shark had attacked while he was lying on his surfboard in impossibly clear waters.

He said that he began punching the shark as soon as he realized it was a shark.

The water, according to Morita, turned red because of his blood.

Morita claimed that, as the bite on his leg deepened, he started to pray for the shark to release its hold.

As soon as the surfer's hand passed the shark's gills, it released the surfer's grip.

Other surfers nearby helped save the man's life by using their surfboard leashes to make an improvised tourniquet that they tied around the man's cut right leg to stop the bleeding.

He was taken to the hospital right away, where he is still recuperating, and hopes that he won't need to have his knee amputated after losing his right foot.

Tiger Sharks

Along with great white and bull sharks, tiger sharks belong to the "Big Three" shark species that are primarily to blame for shark attacks on people.

Although they do not actively hunt humans, they have a reputation for being particularly aggressive than the majority of other species.

Large tiger sharks are frequently found in Hawaiian waters where people surf, snorkel, and swim, but they hardly ever come into contact with people, according to shark expert Carl Meyer of the Hawai'i Institute of Marine Biology.

Tiger sharks rarely bite people, but when they do, it's probably because of their natural curiosity about strange objects that are surfacing as potential prey.

These occurrences do not represent instances of "mistaken identity," but rather the normal exploratory behavior of a large predator with a wide-ranging diet, Newsweek reported.

Shark Attacks

Although attacks generally continue to be extremely rare, this incident constitutes the sixth shark attack to take place in Hawaii since December 2022.

The State of Hawaii Division of Aquatic Resources reported that Morita's attack is the fourth to happen in Hawaii this year.

Two of the attacks that happened this year were made by tiger sharks.

The other two involve black-tip reef sharks and cookie-cutter sharks, while the first attack this year was by a tiger shark, but did not result in any injuries.

Others resulted in puncture wounds and lacerations, while the latest one resulted in an amputated foot.

None of the attacks this year were fatal.

Hawaii, which ranks second to Florida in terms of shark attacks, has one of the highest rates in the country.

Since records began to be kept in Hawaii in 1837, there have been 187 confirmed shark attacks that were unprovoked there, according to the International Shark Attack File by the Florida Museum.