An Australian surfer has escaped death after encountering two sharks during a surf competition in South Africa.
Mick Fanning was competing in the final heat of a world tour event at Jeffreys Bay, in the country’s Eastern Cape province on Sunday when a looming black fin appeared behind him.
In a churn of water and spray, Fanning battled to fend off the shark.
Fanning said that the shark came up and got stuck in his leg rope. He started kicking and screaming. He was not able to see the teeth as he was swimming but only the fin.
Fanning lost his brother in a car crash almost 17 years ago and his mother who was watching the entire event on television was horrified and feared the worst.
Speaking from her home on Australia’s Gold Coast, Liz Osborne told the Australian Broadcasting Corp it was “the worst thing I’ve ever seen happen to any of my family because it was just there in front of me”. BBC reported.
The World Surf League (WSL), organised the J-Bay Open, said two sharks were spotted in the water near Fanning and his friend Julian Wilson but were later rescued by rescue jet-ski
According to Reuters, the waters are some of the most shark-infested in the world, and that a surfer was killed by a Great White shark close to Jeffreys Bay in 2013.
