A surfer has spoken of the moment he was forced to hang on to a shark’s tail in a desperate battle to survive.
Paul Buckley grabbed hold of the creature in a bid to restrain it after it sunk its teeth deep into his leg.
‘I was actually paddling back to shore because I hadn’t had that great surfing when I was flipped in the air with such force,’ he said.
I just knew in my gut that it was a shark. It was like a 500lb Rottweiler in a very bad mood.
‘The force was incredible. The first thing I said when I was attacked was “No, please God not like this.”
‘I didn’t see the shark’s eyes because his back was towards me but that was when I grabbed its tail.
‘No doubt I was scared. I feared for my life so I just grabbed it. I thought if I held it by the tail, its mouth could not reach me again.’
Mr Buckley, 37, was released after a few seconds and then frantically swam the 100m back to shore near Stilbaai, which is near the tourist resort of MosselBayon which faces the Indian Ocean.
Witnesses bundled him into a car and rushed him to a doctor so the bite – which was nearly 37cm wide and 3cm – could be closed.
The businessman was then taken to hospital where he received 150 stitches.
‘If it had been a little further over to the left or right, or if it had taken out a chunk, it could have been much worse,’ he said.
It’s one of those things that just happens. If you look at the probability, it’s just so unlikely.
‘The shark was doing what comes naturally – looking for food.
‘I owe him one really because he could have easily come back and clamped his teeth round me but he didn’t and just swam away.
‘But yes, I’ll certainly still surf.’
LIfeboat spokesman Rico Menezies estimated the shark was three-and-a-half metres long. ‘I’m certain it was a great white,’ he added.
Despite the number of sharks that swim off the warm seas of South Africa, attacks are still quite rare with an average of six a year.
Since 1990, only a quarter have resulted in serious injury and only 12 per cent have been fatal.
Scientists believe surfers are at increased risk because sharks mistake them for seals, which are easy prey.
Great Whites, which can grow up to 6m, are especially prevalent off False Bay, Cape Town, which has one of the highest densities of the killer fish in the world.
