By The Washington Times (U.S.) | Created at 2026-08-11 18:11:15 | Updated at 2026-08-11 20:03:37
2 hours ago
A great white shark off the coast of Maine bit the rescue device attached to a 71-year-old lifeguard and pulled the man underwater over the weekend.
On Saturday, the lifeguard was working at Scarborough Beach State Park in Scarborough, Maine, 92 miles northeast of Boston, when he was pulled 5 to 6 feet underwater via the rescue device that was strapped to him, town officials said on Facebook.
“The amount of force that pulled me under, I’ve never felt anything like that, never,” Greg Wilfert, who has more than 50 years of lifeguard experience, told Boston area TV station WBZ-TV.
Mr. Wilfert, who is also the manager of the state park, told Maine TV station WMTW-TV, “I thought I was caught in a boat propeller, and I realized I wasn’t. There’s no fish that’s going to do that. It has to be a big fish or a shark. It had to be the shark.”
To escape, Mr. Wilfert freed himself from the strap tethering him to the rescue device and swam back to shore, after which the flotation device shot out of the water, city officials said.
The beach was shut down for about an hour after the incident.
“I was just screaming at people to get out of the water, because I didn’t know where that thing was,” Mr. Wilfert told WBZ-TV.
The incident comes after more than a dozen sightings of sharks in the water at the state park. Mr. Wilfert told the Portland Press Herald that the sightings are of multiple, distinct sharks.
Scarborough officials recommend that the public avoid swimming alone, avoid swimming near schools of fish, seals or nesting birds, and keep in mind that shark incidents can occur in shallow water close to the shore.
