Terrifying details of the horror shark attack that left surfers with 50 stitches and recurring nightmares

A SURFER has shared the chilling details of a horror shark attack he’s used to torture through recurring nightmares.

The water around Matt Picarelli quickly began turning red as blood began draining from his body after being vandalized in Florida.

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He had been bodysurfing in the ocean off Pepper Park Beach in Fort Pierce on the morning of March 12 before he was ambushed by the beast.

After a brief break from the waves, he was back in the water at around 11:40 a.m. when he suddenly felt pain in his right foot.

A feral spinner shark – which can grow to almost 10 feet – had taken a chunk out of him.

The surfer caught a startling glimpse of its huge fin and tail as the creature appeared to execute its feeding strategy.

Spinner sharks get their name from this unusual trait, which allows them to rotate through schools of fish, snapping them up and often leaping into the air.

While not considered dangerous to humans, they have been responsible for numerous unprovoked attacks.

Matt, 36, was left in agony as the beast brutally tore through his flesh – what he described as “a car that hits me with a machete blade at the end”.

He said: “It’s just the force that put it on me. And it just pressed on my foot like a vise grip.”

The veteran surfer said the shark held its jaw for less than a minute before finally releasing its grip.

“It was a big animal and it took a bite out of my foot,” he said. “And it left immediately.”

His horrified buddies helped him out of the water and onto the beach – all while trying desperately not to lure the shark to them.

Matt recalled, “There was bleeding everywhere.

“So I had a bunch of strangers helping me, giving me water and putting pressure on the wound.”

He said beachgoers believed he had been attacked by a spinner shark up to 5 feet long.

Matt was taken to HCA Florida Lawnwood Hospital, where medics warned he would have lost all of his toes if the bite had been just a few inches deeper.

The attack ruptured one of his tendons and fractured a bone in his foot, forcing him to have surgery.

Doctors had to sew up a whopping 50 stitches to heal his bloody wound.

Matt told KFVS12, “It didn’t look good.”

Despite finally being discharged on antibiotics on Wednesday, Matt now faces a grueling recovery which he fears will “take many months”.

He explained that he will have to wear a non-wearing boot on his mutilated foot for up to six weeks.

But even as his physical wounds heal, the surfer faces a mental struggle to overcome the trauma of the incident.

Matt said the ordeal plays out over and over in his mind – forcing him to relive the terrifying moment over and over again.

He said: “I had nightmares about sharks coming up to me and biting me, attacking me.”

However, the surfer bravely vowed to get back on the waves, except now he’ll be extra careful.

“I’ve surfed my whole life. I love the sea. So I don’t see myself not going back in after that,” Matt said.

He started GoFundMe to raise money for his medical expenses, which has already raised over $1,000.