AN Australian surfer who suffered “catastrophic” injuries after being mauled by a great white shark managed to walk 300m to safety.
Dion Lynch, 29, was attacked on a remote beach in D’Estrees Bay on Kanagroo Island on Sunday and suffered serious injuries to his back and thighs.
The surfer later said the shark attack felt “like being hit by a truck”.
“I was sitting on my board when I felt a hit on my left side,” Lynch said in a written statement.
“It bit me around my back, buttock and elbow and took a chunk out of my board.”
Despite his injuries Lynch, who works as a builder, managed to get out of the water and walk up to the car park where he warned another surfer who was about to go into the water.
A total of nine people have been killed in some 60 shark attacks worldwide so far in 2020 – the highest figure since 2013.
Eight men and one woman, aged between 17 and 63, have been killed
Out of those nine, seven have died in Australia alone – the country’s highest number in 86 years.
The two fatalities outside of Australia occurred in the US, in California and Maine.
Experts however insist shark attacks remain rare and the figures are roughly in line with previous numbers over the last decade.
Just a handful of people are killed by sharks every year, with attacks usually happening in Australia, the United States and South Africa.
Lynch added: “He drove me to Kingscote and we were met halfway by an ambulance.”
An off-duty paramedic got Lynch into a car and rushed him towards Kingscote, according to South Australia Ambulance team leader Michael Rushby.
He was eventually taken to Flinders Medical Centre in Adelaide where he later penned a hand written note describing his ordeal and thanked medical staff.
Rushbsy said the surfer had “sustained some serious lacerations” to his back and thigh which were consistent with a “large shark bite”.
Lynch said he was grateful to the people who helped him get to hospital and to the emergency crew and medical staff at the hospital, as well as his family and friends for their love and support.
“I’m feeling incredibly lucky and grateful and I’m optimistic I’ll make a full recovery,” he said.
South Australia Police closed D’Estrees Bay beach on Sunday, along with Fisheries and the local council, asking people to avoid the area.
In August this year Aussie surfer Phil Mummert, 28, fought off a great white by shoving his board into the shark’s mouth.
Mummert, 28, was surfing at Bunker Bay, Western Australia when he was savaged by the beast.
He said there was less than a foot between his face and the shark that knocked him off his board as he surfed.
“I was sitting on my board and I remember feeling the force that the shark hit me with and then the next thing I remember is being in the water and my board was bitten in half,” he said.
