Teenage girl escapes shark attack, punches sea predator in Florida

In a dramatic escape from falling prey to a sea predator, a 13-year-old girl punched a shark — estimated to be 5 to 6 feet — which bit her in the stomach, arm, knee and finger, reported South Florida’s Local 10 News.

Ella Reed said that she was sitting in waist-deep water with a friend when she was struck by intense, sharp pain.

She reportedly said that "the shark itself was so powerful that was what I felt the most because it was hitting my stomach really hard."

She said she punched the shark when it came over to her while the predator swam away however the shark came back instantly.

“It wouldn’t leave me alone, so I had to use my arm and use my hand too, so it got my arm and my finger," Reed said.

The teen shouted for her mother and brother.

"It was insane because she was totally covered in blood pretty much from head to toe so she couldn’t really see what went on," Reed's mother remarked.

"She was shaking but calm," her mother said.

The teenage girl got 19 stitches.

“I was kinda in shock about everything that happened, so I wasn’t really in pain because the adrenaline was through the roof,” added Reed who eyes to be back on the water.

“It was clear water so you never really know what’s going to happen,” said Reed.

According to the University of Florida's shark attack file, the state is the shark bite capital of the world.

From a total of 57 unprovoked shark attacks, Florida noted 16.

Though there have been no fatalities related to the shark bite incidents, they culminated in two amputations. Most such incidents take place US and Australia.

While there had been such attacks in 2022, the data showed a decline from nine fatalities in 2021 and 10 in 2020.

Gavin Naylor of the Florida Museum of Natural History said: "Generally speaking, the number of sharks in the world's oceans has decreased, which may have contributed to recent lulls."