A snorkeller who was bitten by a shark on a trip off the West Cornwall coast has described the experience as 'very scary.'

Penzance Coastguard Rescue Team was dispatched to what was suspected to be a shark bite off the coast of Penzance on Thursday, July 28, as first reported by The Packet earlier today. 

The snorkeller was met at at Penzance harbour by the ambulance service after having suffered a leg injury during the encounter.

In an update posted on its social media page, Blue Shark Snorkel Trips said: "We want to make everyone aware that we have had an incident.

"These occurrences are extremely rare and can be easily misunderstood so we want this to be dealt with as sensibly as possible.

"As we know, these things can happen when we choose to interact with wild animals in their own environment.

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"The last thing we want is to let speculation drive the media into a world of bad press for the sharks, under no fault of their own.

"We immediately enacted our emergency response plan, with first aid being carried out on the person involved.

"Following advice and assessment from the coastguard, the person walked off the boat and received further treatment ashore."

The trip provider's update also included a statement from the person involved which said: "I just wanted to say that despite how the trip ended, it was amazing to see such majestic creatures in the wild and I don’t for a second want this freak event to tarnish the reputation of an already persecuted species.

"Wanted to thank everyone for their amazing actions. What was a very scary incident was made so much easier by the kindness and calmness of the people around me.

"Thank you to the trip team for getting me back to shore quickly and carefully and making me feel as safe as I possibly could.

"We all take these risks when we enter the habitat of a predator and we can never completely predict the reactions of a wild animal.

"We’ve tried to understand why it happened and are in continued talks with shark experts."