Hawaii Surfer Loses Right Foot In Shark Attack, Shares Ordeal

An experienced surfer in Hawaii lost his right foot after a shark attacked him off the Honolulu coast.

The incident took place Sunday when Mike Morita was surfing the waters in Kewalo Basin, located near the city's famed Waikiki Beach, SF Gate reported.

Mike was a regular at the basin, his son Kamu told Hawaii News-Now. Morita's children, Kamu and Keani, thanked fellow surfers for jumping into action and saving their father to "live another day with his family."

The Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources cordoned off the area to get the surfers to keep away from the site. Kamu claimed the shark which bit his father could be an 8-foot-long tiger shark. "It was a struggle according to him, he got a few blows in, but the shark just wouldn't let go," Kamu told the outlet. "Somehow after he was getting tossed around, he kind of came face-to-face with (the shark) with his foot still in its mouth and he was able to kind of bear hug it and dig the gills and eyes and that's really when it finally let go."

Morita said he initially believed a seal had latched onto his leg, but soon figured it was a tiger shark by the strength of its bite.

"I just felt the pressure and the strength of it," he told Today. "I started to pray to God and I said, 'God let this shark let go of my leg.' I was going back and forth, back and forth with it, and it didn't let go. So I guess God wanted me to fight."

Morita added his deep faith is what kept him calm during the attack.

In January last year, a shark bit a 60-year-old man while he was catching waves at California's Lovers Point Beach, causing him serious injuries. The victim, identified as retired Monterey Peninsula College professor Stephen Bruemmer, ended up with a broken femur but was spared amputation as none of his blood vessels were raptured. He was saved on time by a couple who was surfing nearby with a diving instructor and was given a tourniquet after the attack.