{"id":39446,"date":"2026-08-11T22:30:52","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T17:30:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=39446"},"modified":"2026-08-11T22:30:52","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T17:30:52","slug":"maine-lifeguard-says-shark-dragged-him-5-feet-underwater-as-officials-warn-of-increased-sightings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=39446","title":{"rendered":"Maine lifeguard says shark dragged him 5 feet underwater as officials warn of increased sightings"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p>A <span class=\"link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/boston\/news\/scarborough-beach-maine-lifeguard-shark-dragged\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-invalid-url-rewritten-http=\"\">lifeguard in Maine<\/a><\/span> said he &#8220;started swimming like hell&#8221; when a shark grabbed onto his buoy and pulled him underwater off the coast of Scarborough Beach on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>Greg Wilfert said he initially thought he was caught in the propeller of a boat.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;&#8216;Cause that&#8217;s the only thing I could think of until I realized there was no boat,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>Wilfert said he was pulled about 5 feet underwater before he was able to get free and emerge on shore unharmed.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It was frightening,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I&#8217;m not going to deny that.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h2>More shark sightings<\/h2>\n<p>Officials along the East Coast say there are more sharks closer to shore in areas where they don&#8217;t usually go.<\/p>\n<p>Since last week, at least a dozen sharks have been spotted close to popular beaches in the area of Wilfert&#8217;s encounter, according to Scarborough&#8217;s marine resources officer Daryen Granata.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Usually we&#8217;ll see one or two here and there. This is a large volume, larger than I&#8217;ve seen, and I&#8217;ve worked this area for 30-plus years,&#8221; Granata said.<\/p>\n<p>The trend is happening as conservation efforts have led to an increase in marine life populations in recent years, experts say.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re gonna see more of everything, including more sharks,&#8221; OCEARCH founder Chris Fischer explained.<\/p>\n<p>His nonprofit studies sharks by catching, tagging and collecting data before releasing them back into the ocean.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It means just try to be a little bit more aware of what&#8217;s going on in the environment around you. You see a lot of life, steer clear of that,&#8221; he warned.<\/p>\n<p>Still, shark encounters remain rare. Last year, the International Shark Attack File reported 25 unprovoked bites.<\/p>\n<section class=\"content__body--footer\">\n<\/section>\n<p>  <!-- data-recirc-source=\"queryly\" --><\/p>\n<aside class=\"component list recirculation component--type-recirculation  \">\n<p><h3 class=\"component__title\">More from CBS News<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<div class=\"component__item-recirc-block\">\n<p><h3 class=\"component__title\">Go deeper with The Free Press<\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<section class=\"content__body--footer\">\n      <!-- tags --><\/p>\n<section class=\"content__tags\">\n<p class=\"content__tags__label\">In:<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/section><\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A lifeguard in Maine said he &#8220;started swimming like hell&#8221; when a shark grabbed onto his buoy and pulled him underwater off the coast of Scarborough Beach on Saturday. Greg Wilfert said he initially thought he was caught in the propeller of a boat. &#8220;&#8216;Cause that&#8217;s the only thing I could think of until I&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39447,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/assets1.cbsnewsstatic.com\/hub\/i\/r\/2026\/08\/11\/39b1c80d-b22f-4488-8228-f53087399538\/thumbnail\/1200x630\/8ef42f6a2f1e03f5d4c7e8ccabb76dc3\/cbsn-fusion-lifeguard-recalls-escaping-sharks-grasp-as-officials-warn-of-attacks-closer-to-shore-thumbnail.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39446","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-hub"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39446","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=39446"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39446\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/39447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=39446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=39446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=39446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}