A relaxing afternoon of fishing took a frightening turn Friday when a man was injured by a stingray at the Robert Moses fishing pier and had to be rushed to the hospital.

The incident occurred around 5:45 p.m. when the fisherman, who has not been publicly identified, was wounded by the barb of a stingray shortly after reeling it in.

Victor Conceicao, a friend who was fishing alongside the victim, witnessed the incident and acted quickly to help.

“He caught a stingray and when he went to go turn it back into the water, the barb on its tail just gashed him right on the forearm,” Conceicao told News 12.

Conceicao used a shirt to wrap the wound and control the bleeding while calling 911 for help.

“He started bleeding a little bit. We wrapped his shirt around it. Ambulance came, picked him up, now he’s getting stitches,” he said. “It was kind of scary at first because we didn’t know how serious or severe the cut was, so we didn’t know what to think.”

A spokesperson from New York State Parks confirmed that the fisherman was taken to a nearby hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening.

The stingray was safely released back into the water.