19-year-old says she punched shark biting her off Texas coast. ‘It was just instinct’
When 19-year-old Damiana Humphrey felt the jaws of a shark clench to her hand while swimming off the Texas coast, she did the first thing that came to mind.
“I guess I started punching it,” Humphrey, from Oklahoma, told KRIV. “That part is kind of blurry.”
She was visiting Galveston Beach with her family May 28 when the attack happened. Her sister-in-law noticed the shark — about 4 to 5 feet long — as they were waist-deep in the water, she said in an interview with KRIV.
Before long, it was attached to Humphrey’s arm, so she fought back.
“It was just instinct,” she told The Daily News in Galveston. “It happened and that was my first reaction when I saw it. It felt like a dream because of how fast it happened. I didn’t have time to process it until I made it back to shore.”
The shark swam away after being punched, and Humphrey helped get her siblings out of the water, according to The Daily News. She was then taken to a hospital for treatment of her shark bite.
Four tendons were severed, KRIV reported, but she said she expects to regain mobility of her hand through physical therapy.
“(Her fingernails) still look fabulous even though she has this splint on her arm,” Traci Humphrey, Damiana Humphrey’s sister-in-law, told The Daily News. “She didn’t break a nail.”
What to know about shark attacks
The Houston Chronicle, citing records from the Shark Research Institute, reported in 2023 there have been 78 shark attacks in Texas recorded since 1865. They’re most prevalent in the Galveston region, where 19 such attacks have occurred.
In 2023, there were 36 shark attacks in the U.S., but none in Texas, according to the Florida Museum of Natural History’s International Shark Attack File. Two attacks — one in Hawaii and one in California — were fatal.
“You have a better chance of getting in a car accident and being injured on your way to the beach than you do actually when you get to go swimming,” John Carlson of the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration said in a video posted to NOAA’s website.
If you see a shark in the water, however, don’t panic, Richard Peirce, former chair of the Shark Trust and Shark Conservation Society, told CNN.
“Don’t start splashing around — you’re just going to excite, incite and encourage the shark’s interest,” he told the news outlet.
Instead, maintain eye contact with the shark and slowly move away, according to the Florida Museum. If a shark bites you, you’re encouraged to hit the shark in the eyes or snout and push away.
This story was originally published June 6, 2024 at 6:49 AM with the headline "19-year-old says she punched shark biting her off Texas coast. ‘It was just instinct’."