Over the weekend, 51-year-old Mariko Haugen from Folsom, California was with her family in Maui, Hawaii. Mariko was swimming in the ocean, about 25 feet out from the shore, when she heard people screaming.
Mariko says she looked up and saw a 12-FOOT TIGER SHARK coming at her. “It was like Hollywood. You see the big jaws coming at you. I can’t say how terrifying that is.”
But fortunately for her – and UNFORTUNATELY for the shark – Mariko is a black belt in Tae Kwan Do. So she decided to do what her training told her to do…and beat up the shark. She punched it once and it backed off a little. Then she punched it again in the side of the head, and that scared the shark off.
The shark never bit her, but her hand did make contact with his teeth during the fight, and he thrashed around as she was punching her. That left her needing about 70 stitches in her right hand and thigh. But that’s better than DYING.
Source: ABC News 10
