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Lifeguard Recalls Being Pulled Underwater by Great White Shark

A lifeguard is detailing his terrifying encounter with a great white shark. He says that he was pulled underwater by the animal while in Maine.

Greg Wilfert told News Center Maine that he was swimming with a yellow rescue torpedo when he felt something pull him under the water.

"I thought I was caught in the prop of a boat, but I soon realized it wasn't a prop of a boat," he recalled to the outlet. "So, I slipped out of my harness and got to the surface and swam as fast as I could back to shore."

He said that he realized that it was a great white shark that grabbed him.

"The amount of force that pulled me under, I've never felt anything like that, never," he emphasized. "I immediately slipped out of the strap on my can and swam to the surface as fast as I could and then I just beelined it back to the beach."

Lifeguard Has Close Encounter with Great White Shark

The yellow rescue torpedo went flying into the air. The lifeguard tried to make it to shore.

"It was frightening; I am not going to deny that," Wilfert said. "I was just screaming at people to get out of the water, because I didn't know where that thing was."

Fortunately, the lifeguard escaped his encounter with the great white shark without incident. The Scarborough Police said that it is "very consistent with other activity we have seen."

Meanwhile, the lifeguard himself weighed in on his close brush with potential death. He believes that it was a great white shark.

"There's no fish that's going to do that," Wilfert told the outlet. "I was hoping that it wasn't coming back up to check me out."

Fortunately, he lived to tell the tale about his encounter.