LUZERNE COUNTY, Pa. (WBRE) — The chances of being bitten by a shark are about 1 in 400 million. For one Pennsylvania family, however, the unimaginable presumably happened while on vacation Monday in Ocean City, Maryland.
Jordan Prushinski, 12, never thought her favorite beach would be the place where she would get attacked by a suspected shark while swimming in knee-deep water.
“I didn’t really realize what was going on until I was on the beach and I was bleeding everywhere,” Prushinski stated.
She explained that the incident occurred when she was swimming and after a big wave crashed into the area she was in.
“I thought a horseshoe crab had got lifted up and hit against my shins, and I don’t like the sea creatures so I rushed out immediately to find blood everywhere, with cuts all over my left leg,” Prushinski said.
Horrified at the sight, Jordan’s mother Melissa Prushinski ran to get help.
She described people at the beach, including an EMT and a nurse, jumped in to lend a hand, “Immediately we gave her first aid and bandaged it up, but I was very scared at that point.”
Jordan’s father Robert Prushinski says that help probably made the difference.
“Lifeguards and everybody else that were helping were fantastic. By the time I got there, I scooped her up and got her onto a quad and got her out of there,” he said.
Jordan was then rushed to the Atlantic General Hospital in Berlin, Maryland. She received 42 stitches for the 20 cuts on her leg.
“I’m kind of like, wanting to stay out of the water for a little while, but something like this is rare and it’s even rarer to happen again,” Prushinski said.
The Ocean City Beach Patrol told NewsNation affiliate WBRE they’re still investigating the incident.