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Swimmer bitten by great white shark
01:22 - Source: KABC

Story highlights

A great white shark bites a swimmer in waters off Manhattan Beach, California

The 7-foot shark was struggling at the end of a fishing line

The victim was bit in the torso, but managed to make it to shore

CNN  — 

A long-distance swimmer was attacked by a great white shark near the pier in Manhattan Beach, California, the Los Angeles County Fire Department said.

A fisherman on the pier had hooked the 7-foot shark Saturday and was trying to reel in the struggling fish when the victim swam by, LAFD spokesman Rick Flores said. “It was agitated and when the swimmer got close, it bit him,” Flores told CNN.

The victim was part of a group of swimmers training in the waters near the pier. They did not see the shark until it was too late.

The victim was bit in the torso, sustaining a wound Flores described as “moderate.”

“The shark bit the swimmer and then released,” he said.

The 40-year-old man is still in the hospital, Flores said Saturday evening.

Bystanders captured the aftermath of the attack on cell phone video. CNN affiliate KTLA posted the video on its website. It shows a group of swimmers frantically trying to reach shore with the victim screaming loudly from the water and people on the pier urging him to hurry, yelling that the shark was still close by.

All the swimmers in the water made it to shore safely.

The victim was treated by paramedics at the scene, then transported to a local hospital, according to LAFD’s Twitter feed. “The male shark bit victim is reported to be in stable condition,” a tweet from the lifeguard division said.

The fisherman had struggled to reel in the great white for up to 40 minutes before the attack happened. Then he cut the line and the shark swam away, Flores said.

Police closed down the Manhattan Beach Pier, and it will remain closed until Tuesday.

While shark attacks are rare, they have increased at a steady rate since 1900 “with each decade having more attacks than the previous,” according to the International Shark Attack File based in Gainesville, Florida.

But the ISAF says there were 72 unprovoked shark attacks on humans in 2013 – the lowest number of global attacks since 2009, when 67 attacks occurred.

The group emphasized that an increasing number of shark attacks doesn’t mean the rate of attacks is increasing. ISAF research shows people are spending more time at sea, which increases the interactions between humans and sharks.

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CNN’s Janet DiGiacomo and Greg Botelho contributed to this report