US man survives being 'chewed up and spat out' in horrific shark attack

The survivor says he believes the shark mistook him for a seal and let go after realising that he wasn't food. Source: CBS

A Californian man has survived being "chewed up and spat out" in a horrific great white shark attack that saw him one millimetre from death.

Steve Bruemmer, 62, was swimming at Lovers Point Beach in Pacific Grove, California when he was bitten in the abdomen by a white pointer, narrowly missing an artery.

"It grabbed me and pulled me up and then dove me down in the water and then, of course, it spit me out," Bruemmer told the local KSBW news station.

"I was about 150 yards from the beach when wham!" the retired college professor explained from his hospital bed.

"I don't even know what happened, but it was just - well - turns out I was bit ferociously by a shark right across my thighs and my abdomen."

Trauma surgeon Nicholas Rottler told KSBW-TV the shark had come within a millimetre of severing a major artery, which could have caused Bruemmer to bleed out in the water.

Bruemmer said the sea was calm on the day. There was no wind and the ocean was flat, he said.

"There were no waves, it was so calm," he said.

Steve Bruemmer was bit "ferociously" across his thighs and abdomen by a great white shark. Photo / CBS

The survivor says he believes the shark mistook him for a seal and let go after realising that he wasn't food.

"It was looking at me, right next to me," he said.

"I thought it could bite me again so I pushed it with my hand and I kicked at it with my foot and it left."

Bruemmer told KSBW-TV he was rescued by two paddleboarders and a surfer.

"Heroes. How do you get into the bloody water, with maybe a shark circling beneath you, to save a stranger? They're amazing."

-news.com.au