A day surfing at the beach found an Australian man reacting like a super hero, as he attacked a great white shark to save his wife’s life.
According to a report by ABC News. North South Wales police said “Mark Rapley and his wife Chantelle Doyle were spending the day at Shelly Beach at Port Macquarie, New South Wales, when the shark, described as being between 6 and 10 feet, attacked Doyle and threw her off her surfboard.” Rapley told the Nine Network “he paddled to his wife’s board as she tried to climb back up while the shark grabbed her right calf,” ABC News cited.
Rapley grabbed on to his wife’s surfboard and began punching the shark until it let her go, the police said.
“When you see the mother of your child, and your support, everything that’s who you are, so you just react,” he told the channel. “Your body reacts to saying get off, get off. So you start punching it, you start thinking amazingly where to punch it and so you’re like, ‘I’ll just attack the eye,’ or whatever. You just start thinking differently.”
According to the report, the police said that after the shark let go of her leg, Doyle and her husband got back to shore where paramedics were on hand to administer aid. Doyle was airlifted to a hospital and had surgery, the report said.
While officers and fishing officials worked to get more details about the attack, the report said the beach remained closed for the rest of the day.
Rapley said his wife was “awake and doing better, but the family will be dealing with the fallout from the attack for a while,” the report noted.
“She is in pretty good spirits, still strong and hopefully all fine from here, but a long road to recovery,” he said.
