An elderly woman horribly injured in a shark attack on a New York City beach recalls the terrifying encounter.
Tatyana Koltunyuk, 65, was swimming at Rockaway Beach in Queens around 6 p.m. on Aug. 7 when the predator ripped a 20-pound piece of flesh from her leg.
She recalls seeing the shark’s “green and dirty” teeth before it attacked, and then the “cloud of blood” in the water that followed.
Ukrainian widow Koltunyuk felt she “lost energy” after the predator clamped down on her thigh and she counted to nine so she could get back to shore.
A quick-thinking police officer wrapped a makeshift tourniquet to stem the bleeding before she was rushed to hospital in critical condition. She has undergone seven surgeries and her recovery is expected to take years.
Tatyana Koltunyuk, who was horribly injured in a shark attack off a New York City beach, recalls the terrifying encounter
She was swimming at Rockaway Beach in Queens at around 6 p.m. on August 7 when the predator ripped a 20-pound piece of flesh from her leg
Koltunyuk’s daughter Dasha told Good Morning America it’s a miracle her mother is still alive after the shark attack
Koltunyuk’s daughter Dasha told Good morning America it is a miracle that her mother is still alive after the shark attack.
“(She) felt something hit her hard, and then she saw the shark on its belly looking at her,” she said.
‘She saw all his teeth. She described how green and dirty they were. And then the shark attacked. She remembers a cloud of blood in the water.
“The fact that she’s still alive is a miracle.”
Koltunyuk thanks the police officer who curdled the bleeding before first responders arrived to save her life.
Her family shared a photo of her lying in a hospital bed with her injuries.
The shark’s attack left a deep gash, exposing the artery, muscles and most of her femur.
“The surgeon said he had never seen anything like it,” said her son-in-law, Gregg Kallor.
Koltunyuk is convinced it was a great white shark that attacked her, though the tooth marks indicate it was a bull or thresher shark.
Koltunyuk recalls seeing the shark’s “green and dirty” teeth before it attacked, then the “cloud of blood” in the water that followed
New York City Department of Parks and Recreation workers plant a red flag warning visitors that swimming at Rockaway Beach is prohibited on Tuesday, August 8
However, a source said it’s possible the predator could be a great white shark.
Dasha added: “My mother is in love with nature, with animals. And I think she would like me to tell the public not to hate sharks, but to do everything they can to swim safely.”
Her mother will likely require years of intensive physical therapy, but still manages to stay positive.
She will have at least one more surgery and has a long road to recovery ahead of her.
Koltunyuk has reassured her family that “at least my life is definitely not boring,” ABC News correspondent Trevor Ault said.
‘She’s a fighter. And she single-handedly fought for everything in our lives,’ Dasha added.
Her family started a fundraising page GoFundMe to help pay for medical needs and so far it has raised $89,000 of its $150,000 goal.
“Our mother is an empathetic, thoughtful, and deeply proud woman who would never ask for anything and always put others before herself. That is why we are asking for help on her behalf,” Dasha and her husband wrote on the page.
Her daughter claimed her mother’s needs include “ongoing services and consultations, mobility aids, intensive physical and psychological therapy, making her home environment accessible and comfortable, and transportation to and from appointments.”
Dasha has started a fundraising page on GoFundMe to help pay for her mother’s medical needs and has so far raised $89,000 of the $150,000 goal
However, the Long Island coast is no stranger to attacks: six have already been reported this summer
Koltunyuk emigrated to the US with her husband at the age of three, but he died of a heart attack weeks later.
Despite not speaking English and being unable to continue her work as a marine engineer, she “worked tirelessly to support our family,” according to her daughter.
‘She made sure I could take ballet lessons and piano lessons and get the best possible education; she took me to art museums and concerts and theatrical performances; we walked in every garden and park in the city we could find. She led a hard life to make sure I could thrive.”
At the time of the attack, Koltunyuk, who is retired, dreamed of swimming in the ocean, traveling the world and getting a new puppy.
The last shark attack along Rockway Beach was in 1953, when a 15-year-old boy was bitten by a shark caught in his fishing line. Before that, the last shark attack on Rockaway Beach was in 1909, according to the New York Daily News.
However, the Long Island coast is no stranger to attacks: six have already been reported this summer.