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Shark fatally attacks California college kid

Lucas Ransom. (AP)

A great white shark. (Icon/INFGoff.com)

A horrific scene straight from “Jaws” played itself out in the waters off California yesterday — when a massive shark attacked and killed a boogie-boarding college student.

Lucas Ransom, 19, a junior majoring in chemical engineering, was riding the waves in an area patrolled by bloodthirsty great whites near Santa Barbara when the 18- to 20-foot maneater tore into his leg.

“When the shark hit him, he just said, ‘Help me, dude!’ He knew what was going on,” said pal Matthew Garcia, who witnessed the murderous mauling.

The vicious sea beast bit off Ransom’s leg, and within moments the water turned red with gushing blood.

“It was really fast,” Garcia said. “You just saw a red wave and this water is blue — as blue as it could ever be — and it was just red, the whole wave.”

Garcia — who had competed with Ransom on their high school swim and water-polo teams — struggled through the heavy surf to find his friend. He eventually spotted Ransom’s boogie board, which had a 1-foot chunk bitten out.

He soon saw Ransom’s body, and tried to perform chest compressions as he dragged the mortally wounded man to shore.

“He was just floating in the water. I flipped him over on his back and underhooked his arms. I was pressing on his chest and doing rescue breathing in the water,” Garcia said. “He was just kind of lifeless, just dead weight.”

Eerily, Ransom and his pals, who had gone to the beach to surf before class, had joked about a shark attack, said Garcia.

Ransom’s mother yesterday said she also was thinking about the danger when she warned him not to go in the water, which was attracting surfers and boogie boarders with 8- to 10-foot waves.

“I said, ‘Honey, why don’t you just sit and watch them. You’re at a place you’ve never been to before,’ ” Candace Ransom said.

“He said, ‘Mom, don’t worry, I’ll be fine and I’ll call you.’ ”