NORTH MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (AP) — A 42-year-old Delaware man is being treated after he says he was bitten by a shark off the South Carolina coast.

A spokesman for the city of North Myrtle Beach, Pat Dowling, tells news outlets the man was bitten on the foot Tuesday afternoon by what the man said was a shark between 3 feet and 5 feet long.

The unidentified man told officials he had been floating on his back when he was bitten.

Dowling says the man had puncture wounds on his foot and he was bleeding.

John Williford of Roxboro, North Carolina, says he and a nearby lifeguard helped the man as he ran out of the water.