Anela Rezentes had no idea what kind of shark thrashed around her in shallow water at Oahu’s Kalama Beach on Sunday. (Watch the video above.)
“But I wasn’t gonna stick around to find out,” the 6-year-old told “Inside Edition.”
Rezentes cried “shark!” and high-tailed it out of the ocean as the frightening encounter was preserved by her mother’s cellphone camera, Hawaii News Now reported. The filming ended when her mother, Sheri Gouveia, realized what was happening and dropped her phone while running toward her daughter, according to outlets.
In the clip, Anela is playing in the waves when the darting shark suddenly breaks the surface around her.
“My soul left my body,” the girl told KHON2. “I saw a shark. I didn’t notice he was behind my back. So I really wanted to run out. I was really scared.”
Gouveia gave a spiritual thanks for her daughter’s safety.
“Never ever has something like this happened before,” she said. “She’s pretty much here every other weekend. I guess there really are angels watching over my angel.”
“Inside Edition” reported that some experts believe the shark was a blacktip, which hunts in shallow water and will bite humans under certain circumstances. But in this case authorities believe the shark probably was targeting fish near the girl, KHON2 noted.
In 2019, a shark believed to be a blacktip knocked a 7-year-old off his surfboard at Florida’s New Smyrna Beach. Asked if he would ever surf again, the boy replied, “Totally.”