Mathew Bender, recovering post attack. Photo: Jane Bender // WFTV
New Smyrna Beach is infamous for its high instances of shark attacks. The International Shark Attack File, a comprehensive database of all known shark attacks, says Volusia County Beach has been the site of 359 attacks since 1882. Matthew Bender, 40, of Winter Park, Florida, recently found out the hard way why the surf break is known as the “Shark Bite Capital of the World.” Now that he is recovering from the ordeal, he opened up to Fox News affiliate WOFL-TV about the harrowing experience.
Bender was surfing at New Smyrna on Sunday, July 6, at around 3:00 p.m., when a shark latched on to his arm. “I felt it clamp down like a bear trap out of nowhere,” Bender told WOFL-TV. “By the time I looked down, it was already gone. I never saw the shark, but it bit really forcefully. It felt like electricity and like extreme pressure. And then I think it shook its head. I definitely felt that as it was letting go. It was also fast.”
Bender managed to reach shore, where other surfers came to his aid and fashioned a tourniquet out of a leash. “I was squeezing the whole mangled area myself with my left hand, and they were pulling the tourniquet there just above my elbow,” he described.
From there, Bender was transported to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. After undergoing emergency surgery, he will be out of the water for a few months at least, but he promised to return. “I got to take a little break, but I’ll be back out there,” he told WOFL-TV. “I’m a New Smyrna surfer at heart, and it’s not going to end now just because of this.“
