Teenager whose arm was bitten off by a shark describes his ordeal: 'I didn't see it coming'

It was the second serious shark attack in the area that day

Hunter Treschl speaks from his hospital bed at the New Hanover Regional Medical Center (YouTube/New Hanover Regional Medical Center)

A 16-year-old boy who lost his arm in a shark attack has described the terrifying ordeal from his hospital bed.

Hunter Treschl was swimming in the sea off Oak Island, North Carolina with his cousin on Sunday afternoon when the shark struck, first making contact with his leg before biting off his left arm above the elbow.

Treschl's cousin helped him to leave the water before onlookers rushed to his aid.

The attack came less than two hours after 12-year-old Kiersten Yow lost part of her arm to a shark just two miles away.

In footage released by new Hanover Regional Medical Center, where Treschl has been receiving treatment since Sunday, he explained how events unfolded.

He said: "I was in about waist-deep water and i just felt this hit on my left leg, like it was a big fish coming near you.

"The first of it I saw was when it was biting up my left arm, then it got that off eventually.

"I didn't see it coming - I saw it once it attacked my arm because it was out of the water a little bit."

Treschl paid tribute to the ambulance crew and staff at the hospital, and thanked well-wishers for the messages of support that he has been inundated with since the incident.

Paramedics who attended the scene said only a makeshift tourniquet saved the teenager's life, but a hospital spokeswoman said that he is now in a good condition.

Warning: Some may find the following calls distressing:

And Treschl vowed not to let the injury affect his life. "I've lost my arm - obviously - so I have two options," he said. "I can try to live my life the way I was and do that even though I don't have an arm, or I can let this be completely debilitating, bring my life down and ruin it.

"Out of those two, there's really only one I would actually choose to do and that's fight and try to live a normal life with the cards I've been dealt."

Yow's parents released a statement saying that she was in stable condition Tuesday at North Carolina Children's Hospital at the University of North Carolina.

It was reported that officials in Oak Island have begun hunting the shark believe to have carried out the two attacks.

Additional reporting by Associated Press