The woman was bitten on her right leg and taken to hospital.
A man took matters into his own fists when a great white shark attacked his wife while they were surfing on an Australian beach this weekend, police said.
Mark Rapley and his wife Chantelle Doyle spent the day at Shelly Beach in Port Macquarie, New South Wales, when the shark, described as between 6 and 10 feet, attacked Doyle and threw her off her surfboard. , according to the Northern Police of South Wales. Rapley told the Nine Network that he was paddling on his wife’s board as she tried to climb to the top while the shark grabbed her right calf.
Rapley grabbed his wife’s surfboard and began punching the shark until it could release her, police said.
“When you see the mother of your children, and your support, is all you are, so you just react,” he told the channel. “Your body responds to saying go away, go away. So you start punching it, you start thinking wonderfully where you need to punch it and so you’re, ‘I’ll just attack the eye,’ or whatever. You just start thinking differently. “
After the shark released its leg, Doyle and her husband returned to shore and paramedics were on hand to help. She was taken by air to the hospital and had an operation, police said.
The beach was closed for the rest of the day while officers and fishing officials worked to get more details about the attack.
Rapley said his wife was awake and doing better, but the family will deal with the fallout from the attack for a while.
“She’s in pretty good spirits, still strong and hopefully all good from here, but a long way to recovery,” he said.
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