Veteran lifeguard, 71, dragged underwater off the coast of Maine by great white shark

A 71-year-old lifeguard and park manager in Maine had an encounter with a great white shark off the coast over the weekend. He initially thought his rescue can got caught on a boat after he was dragged underwater.

But it wasn’t a boat. Greg Wilfert, who has worked at Scarborough Beach for 55 years and looks like a guy who should have his own reality show, was pulled five to six feet under the water by a great white.

He was swimming around the buoys at the time with a few other lifeguards. Luckily, he was able to remove the strap from the rescue device then swim back to shore to safety without any further interactions with the shark.

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"I thought a boat had come by and grabbed my rescue can because I got pulled under, and I realized right away that it was not a boat, that it had to have been a great white," Wilfert told WHDH.

"I just swam as fast as I could to the surface, and then I just was hoping it wasn't behind me. I could've beaten Michael Phelps."

Once he made it back to shore, his duty as a lifeguard took over. He warned the beachgoers, had them get out of the water, then shut down the beach for an hour.

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Since his encounter, Wilfert has had jet skis and drones keeping an eye on the water for other great white sharks. While he wasn’t hurt, he is taking his encounter seriously.

There's been an increase in great white activity in the area recently and this veteran of the beach isn't taking any chances.

"There's a lot of beaches that we have around here that there's no lifeguards, and they have the presence of these great whites, and you need to take it seriously," he said.

"I'm taking it seriously. I won't be swimming the buoys for a while."