Veteran Maine lifeguard says he was dragged under by great white shark in harrowing close call

A veteran lifeguard claimed he almost became seafood when a great white shark dragged him underwater at a beach in Maine on Saturday.

Greg Wilfert, who’s worked at Scarborough Beach State Park for a whopping 55 years, detailed the close call in an interview with WMTW, telling the outlet he was pulled about six feet beneath the waves by what he’s certain was a shark.

“There’s no fish that’s going to do that … It had to be the shark,” he told the outlet.

Wilfert managed to unstrap himself from the floatation device and swim to shore — praying the predator wouldn’t come back to finish the job.

“I was hoping that it wasn’t coming back up to check me out,” he said.

A witness told police in Scarborough that the rescue torpedo shot out of the water moments after Wilfert began swimming for land, according to WMTW.

Local officials said the attack is consistent with recent shark activity in the area and the circumstances were backed by an expert at the New England Aquarium, according to the outlet, which also reported sightings of nearly a dozen young sharks in the area last week.

Unprovoked shark attacks are extremely rare.

Maine had its first and only fatal shark encounter in 2020 when a 63-year-old New Yorker was mauled by a great white while playing with her daughter at an island near Harpswell, according to ABC Boston.

Officials in Scarborough cleared the beach for around an hour and surveyed the waters after Saturday’s near-miss, WMTW reported.