Shark bites woman swimming off California beach, officials say. ‘I’ve just been bit’

Lyn Jutronich knew immediately that she’d been bitten by a shark while swimming off Del Mar Beach in Southern California.

“I felt a huge, like a really hard hit right, I don’t know how else to say this, like right between my legs and it pushed me, it hurt and it pushed me up and out of the water,” she told KGTV.

“It was on my right leg and it shook once, kind of like a dog, and it let me go,” Jutronich told the station about the encounter Friday, Nov. 4. She came up for air and told her swim partner, “I’ve just been bit … we’ve gotta get into shore.”

Del Mar lifeguards saw Jutronich waving her arms in waist-deep water at 10 a.m. and helped her to shore, KFMB reported. The beach was closed for 48 hours.

Lifeguards credited Jutronich and her friend for remaining calm.

“They both maintained their composure quite well,” Jon Edelbrock, lifeguard chief for the city of Del Mar, told KNSD. Jutronich was taken to a hospital for treatment and is recovering.

Edelbrock told The San Diego Union-Tribune that lifeguards don’t yet know what kind of shark bit Jutronich, but a juvenile great white shark nursery has been identified in the area.

“This is their habitat,” Edelbrock told the publication. “Most interactions are peaceful.”

Beachgoer Alex Segal, a high school student, told KSWB the incident was alarming.

“It was like pretty scary since we’re always here,” he told the station.

Del Mar is a city of 4,300 people about 20 miles north of San Diego.

This story was originally published November 6, 2022 at 9:37 AM with the headline "Shark bites woman swimming off California beach, officials say. ‘I’ve just been bit’."