Teen mauled in shark attack details scary moment creature sank teeth into leg

19 July 2023 , 15:59

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Teen mauled in shark attack details scary moment creature sank teeth into leg

A teenager has opened up on the terrifying ordeal which saw a shark savagely attack her.

Addison Bethea was with her half-brother Rhett looking for scallops when she came face-to-face with a huge bull shark. Before she knew it, the 9ft-long creature had sunk its teeth into her leg.

Addison, who is now 18, tried desperately to free herself from the sharks jaws and has revealed the events in a new BBC documentary. The incident happened last July about a mile-and-a-half off the coast of Keaton Beach near Grassy Island in Taylor County, Florida. Talking on Why Sharks Attack, Addison explained how she was in water which was only about 5ft deep.

Speaking of the scary moment, she said: "I felt something grabbing me. I thought it was Rhett as it pulled me under because I didn’t feel any pain or anything. But then it started kind of shaking me and that’s when I knew it was something else.

"It started biting into my right thigh and I was gouging its eye to get it off me and then it started swimming away with me still in its mouth."

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Addison is lucky to be alive (abcnews.go.com)

Thankfully Rhett was nearby and began frantically punching and kicking the animal in a bid to get it to loosen its grip.

He recalled: "I heard Addison yell and she surfaced and I immediately could see this tail, just slashing back and forth. I grabbed her and started hitting it to get it off."

The now-23-year-old firefighter was able to drag his half sister back to the small boat until they were picked up by a larger vessel which had spotted their distress. The haunting footage shown on the documentary showed Addison's struggle on the boat as she tried to stay conscious.

Addison lost her right leg in the attack (Why Sharks Attack/BBC One)

In the documentary, Addison's dad praised Rhett's actions, saying: "If Rhett hadn’t been there, we would be at the funeral home instead of the hospital. That boy is the definition of a hero. The shark attacked Addison’s right leg, front quad muscle. It was completely annihilated. It was devastating, a nasty, nasty wound."

Despite the surgeons' best efforts, Addison's right leg needed to be amputated following the attack. Miraculously, she was able to walk again shortly after, taking her first steps aided by a walker just a day later.

Why Sharks Attack is available on BBC iPlayer.

Jamie Roberts