Dad Was Attacked by Shark During Evening Surf, Then Rushed to ER Where His Wife Works: ‘My Worst Fear,’ She Says

Dad Was Attacked by Shark During Evening Surf, Then Rushed to ER Where His Wife Works: ‘My Worst Fear,’ She Says https://ift.tt/9rAZFMY

The man is now recovering in the hospital and said he is already looking forward to surfing again

James Eastman and his wife Chloe speaking from his hospital bed
Credit: ABC7 News Bay Area/YouTube

NEED TO KNOW

• A California man was bitten on both legs by a shark while surfing at Big River Beach on March 18
• Speaking from his hospital bed, the man said he went into fight mode when he felt something dragging him in the water
• Three off-duty lifeguards happened to be swimming nearby and assisted with the man's rescue, after which he was taken to the ER where his wife works as a nurse

A 39-year-old California man was injured on both legs after a shark attacked him during an early evening surf, according to officials. Now, he's speaking out about the experience from his hospital bed.

James Eastman, the surfer, recalled the moment he felt something dragging him in the water, telling local ABC affiliate KGO-TV that he thought, "Oh my god, this is actually happening, this is an actual shark attack."

The incident occurred at Big River Beach inside Mendocino Headlands State Park just after 5 p.m. local time on Wednesday, March 18, according to California State Parks officials.

"I could see the shark's head kind of above the water," Eastman told ABC News. "I thought of my wife and my kid and I was just like, I cannot die. I can't die right now."

Hopping into "fight mode," Eastman started pushing the shark and striking it on the nose until it let go.

Three off-duty seasonal lifeguards happened to be surfing nearby and rushed to help Eastman, the California State Lifeguards said in a Instagram statement. He was then rushed to Adventist Hospital in Fort Bragg, where his wife Chloe works as an emergency room nurse.

"I'm in the middle of work in the ER and I just like dropped to the ground like, 'What?' " she told ABC News. "It's my worst fear too — that happening to him."

In their statement, the California State Lifeguards said that "sharks are an important part of the coastal ecosystem and that interactions between people and sharks are rare."

There have been only 234 shark-related incidents in California since 1950, John Ugoretz, pelagic fisheries and ecosystem program manager for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, told ABC News.

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For his part, Eastman said he's already excited to get back in the water.

"I love surfing so much and I would be very sad if I didn't surf again," he told ABC News. "As far as everything else is concerned, I was extremely lucky."

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife, which is leading the ongoing investigation, said in a statement that they were collecting DNA samples to determine the exact species involved to help better understand the circumstances of the incident. CAL FIRE, the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office, and Mendocino Fire also responded to the incident in addition to State Parks and Fish and Wildlife, the statement said.

The State Parks Department has issued a 48-house beach closure, which is standard protocol after such an incident, officials said.