‘I saw it clamp on my leg’: Lyn Jutronich recalls horror of GREAT WHITE shark attack at Del Mar
DEL MAR, SAN DIEGO: A woman is recovering after a shark bit part of her thigh on a San Diego beach over the weekend. Lyn Jutronich is ready to talk about her harrowing experience just hours after her swim ended with a shark bite off the Del Mar coast.
On Friday morning, Lyn Jutronich, 50, was swimming a Del Mar Beach, just north of downtown San Diego, when she felt something crash against her in the water. Jutronich stated that she and her swimming partner were taking a break in the water before returning to shore at the time of the incident.
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"We usually relax for a couple of minutes, tread water, talk about maybe what we're gonna get for breakfast, and then we head in," Jutronich told ABC 7. "I felt huge, like a really hard hit right, I don't know how else to say this, like right between my legs, and it pushed me," Jutronich told . It immediately concerned her because of how strong the hit was.
According to Jutronich, everything happened so swiftly that some details are still unclear. She was able to come up and shout at her companion, David, to notify him of the incident after shaking the animal off.
"It hurt, and it pushed me up and out of the water," Jutronich said. Despite having little reason to believe it was a shark, as attacks are relatively uncommon, she said she almost immediately knew what was happening. "I've just been bit, I've just been bit," she recalled of what she said at the time. "We have to get to shore, you have to get me into shore," she said. "I was still swimming with one arm, we just knew we had to get to shore," Jutronich continued. "And that's all you're focused on at that point."
A friend who was swimming with her noticed her tossing back and forth in the water, and then he noticed the shark's fin. He helped her return to shore, where she was treated by lifeguards and emergency medical technicians before being taken to a hospital. She is being treated for lacerations and puncture wounds to her right thigh.
ABC 7 reports that the shark is believed to be a juvenile great white, but authorities are still awaiting confirmation from scientists. Juvenile great white sharks often swim in the waters off the coast of Del Mar. According to Jutronich, she is still processing what happened.
Jutronich admits she's still in shock, but she's using comedy to help her heal as she recovers, as ABC7 reported, "My friend did send me an article that said I should buy a Powerball ticket because apparently the chances are winning the Powerball are less than being attacked by a shark, so I've got that going for me," she joked.