- Greg Wilfert, a 71-year-old lifeguard at Scarborough Beach State Park in Maine , survived a harrowing encounter with what he believes was a great white shark after being dragged up to six feet underwater on Saturday.
- The incident occurred while Wilfert was swimming near buoys with colleagues, initially mistaking the sudden pull on his rescue floatation device for a passing boat before realising a shark had snatched it.
- After freeing himself from his equipment, Wilfert swam rapidly back to the surface and safely escaped, later remarking that he swam fast enough to beat Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps.
- Local officials temporarily closed Scarborough Beach following the incident, noting that nearly a dozen young sharks had been sighted in the surrounding waters during the previous week.
- Lifeguards at the beach have subsequently upgraded their surveillance protocols, deploying a jet-ski and aerial drones to monitor the coast for potential shark activity.
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