Yahoo News Surfer repeatedly punches shark to save wife from attack in Australia
A woman has survived a great white shark attack in Australia after her husband repeatedly punched it until it let her go.
Paramedics were called to Shelly Beach at Port Macquarie, about 250 miles north of Sydney, on Saturday morning after Chantelle Doyle, 35, was attacked while surfing.
She was airlifted to a local hospital with serious leg injuries, but has since been flown to a nearby hospital where she will undergo surgery.
New South Wales state police said the couple were surfing when she was bitten on the right calf and the back of her thigh.
Her husband then punched the 10ft shark until it let her go.
Surf Life Saving chief executive Steven Pearce told the Sydney Morning Herald: "This fella paddled over and jumped off his board on to the shark and hit it to get it to release her and then assisted her back into the beach.
"Pretty full on, really heroic."
He added: "We've had some really serious and tragic shark encounters over the past couple of months along the coastline, so to paddle out of your own safety zone, into an area where you know there is a large shark, I think is amazing...a tremendous act of bravery."
New South Wales Ambulance duty operations manager Andrew Beverley praised the bystanders who carried out first aid on the woman.
"They did an amazing job before we arrived," he told the Sydney Morning Herald.
Beaches in Port Macquarie have been closed for 24 hours as authorities attempt to track the shark.
There have been five fatal shark attacks in Australian waters this year, higher than the country's average of three deadly attacks a year.
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