A young British doctor has survived a horrifying ordeal with a shark at Avoca Beach, NSW.
Charlie Fry, 25, was surfing with mates when a shark attacked him while he was on his board.
“I saw a shark’s head come out of the water, with its teeth, and I just punched it in the face,” Mr Fry told Nine News.
“(I) then got back on my board, shouted at my friends who were there, and then managed to catch a wave in.
“It was just pure adrenaline, I genuinely thought I was going to die, like ‘you’re about to be eaten alive by a shark’, so everything slowed down, like ‘get on your board and surf’.”
Mr Fry escaped with bite wounds to his shoulder.
He says he’s got Aussie surfing legend Mick Fanning to thank for how he dealt with the “hectic” incident, telling Karl Stefanovic on Today that he’d seen the viral YouTube clip of Fanning during his shark attack.
Mr Fry’s injuries.
“When it happened, I was like, ‘just do what Mick did, just punch it in the nose’,” he said.
“If you are watching or listening, Mick, I owe you a beer. Thank you very much.”
Mr Fry has only been in Australia for a few months. Two of his friends who were with him at time are also doctors so they tended to his injuries before taking him to Gosford Hospital where he also happens to work.
A three metre shark was located at Avoca shortly after he was attacked.
