Australian surfer survives attack from a great white shark

A 40-year-old surfer fought off a Great White shark and survived with only cuts to his arm and thigh.With his two young children watching from the beach, the shark attacked Jake Heron on his surfboard 33ft from shore off South Australia state’s Eyre Peninsula.Heron’s friend Craig Materna, who was on his board nearby, said he heard his friend scream and paddled straight to him.“He was freaking out, yelling for help,” Materna said.

”No one saw the shark come up to him – it knocked him off the board. It pulled him under because the leg rope was attached to him. He kicked and punched the shark.”The Great White bit through Heron’s surfboard, splitting it in two.He was taken to a local hospital and received 20 stitches in one arm and 40 stitches in his thigh.“If the shark had bit him in any other part of his body, it could have been good night,” Materna said. “Not too many people survive a shark attack.”

The attack came just two weeks after a marine biologist was killed by a shark while diving near the state capital Adelaide.Last December, an 18-year-old surfer was killed by a Great White about half-a-mile from the same area.