A spectator has captured the incredible moment a young French surfer punched a shark in the face twice after the apex predator attacked him at Victoria’s Bells Beach on Friday.
23-year-old Dylan Nacass was surfing at the popular Victorian beach at around 4pm on Friday afternoon when he felt the animal bite into his leg, according to 9News.
“I punched him one time, he stay in my legs, two times, after… he go,” he said.
As luck would have it, Dylan was sharing the beach with local surfer Matt Sedunary, who put his own life at risk and instinctively rushed to help following the attack.
“I’m not just going to ditch this guy… most people would do the same thing,” Matt told 9News.
In even more astounding news, Matt’s friend Graham Blade managed to capture the whole ordeal on film, showing that the predator continued to follow and circle the pair as they swam approximately 30m to shore. Dylan and Matt both claim they were unaware the animal was still following them until they saw the footage later.
“When we’re paddling in and you can see the shark behind I didn’t know it was still there,” Matt told 9News.
Thankfully, both surfers escaped the ordeal relatively unharmed. Dylan was taken to hospital where he required stitches, but miraculously escaped without any missing limbs. According to Sedunary, the french surfer was “really stoked” to escape the ordeal with nothing more than some puncture wounds.
But if you thought a shark attack would keep the 23-year-old out of the water, think again because he told the Geelong Advertiser he plans on returning to Bells Beach as early as next week.
“In one week, when my leg is OK I will go surfing at the same spot,” he said. “I fight with him and it’s OK, I’m alive. Everything is good.”
It’s unclear what species of shark was involved in the attack, but the any human-shark interaction in the area is rare.
