Husband Punches Shark In Nose To Save Wife From Brutal Attack

A surfer was saved from a shark attack when her husband repeatedly punched the animal in the nose. Chantelle Doyle has revealed what it is like to be mauled by a great white after she completed 15 months of intensive rehabilitation.

The shark refused to let go after latching onto her calf and Chantelle feared she might be dragged down under the surface. Husband Mark was just 9 meters behind his wife on his own board and saw what was happening. He said:

So, I just ditched the board, to just start whaling punches. It was just, just throw as hard as I could until it lets go, because you sort of, just want it to be gone.

[I was looking] dead-set in the eye. That memory sits with me a lot, a black eye. He aimed the punches at the nose because he had heard this was the most sensitive part of the animal.

9News

9News

Eventually the blows were enough to get the shark to let go and Mark dragged Chantelle to shore so she could receive medical treatment. She said:

Muscle, bone, ligament, tendon, nerve, everything gets done. Most parts of my leg were injured except for my arteries. If my artery had been hit... I'm not having this conversation.

9News

Mark previously told 9News:

I was trying to leverage punches down onto it. It feels like you're punching a brick wall, like it's hard. You see the mother of your child, your support, everything you are, you just react. Get off that calf, that's all I could think, just get off.

But he said his wife is the hero for climbing back onto her board and paddling more than 48m back to the shore as blood poured from lacerations on her leg following the attack.

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