A snorkeller has escaped the jaws of a bull shark by punching it in the face during an attack at a popular NSW swimming spot.
The 25-year-old man was swimming beneath a bridge in Lake Illawarra in Windang, south of Sydney, when the shark bit him on the right calf, ambulance spokeswoman Fiona Kruit said.
“The man, believed to be a local, was looking at a shoal of bait fish when he felt a tug on his right leg and spotted a brown shadow behind him, Ms Kruit said.
The man punched the shark in the face, suffering cuts to his hand, before paddling to nearby mudflaps.
Police said the man waved down a motorist on the bridge, who in turn hailed a nearby boat.
The boat’s driver picked up by the injured man from the lake and took him to shore where paramedics applied first aid.
The victim was then taken by ambulance to Shellharbour Hospital with minor injuries.
Bull sharks are known to be aggressive towards humans.
One resident whose property is on the edge of Lake Illawarra said recent sightings in the lake left some locals too terrified to swim there.
"It's a very frightening sort of thing — our lake has been opened right up so we're a bit worried about the sharks coming into the lake," local Charles Williams said.
"There have been a few sharks about … hammerheads, white pointers and others … so we're a bit reluctant to swim at the moment."
This is the third shark attack in Australia in as many days.
Surfer Jonathon Beard, 31, was sitting on his surboard near Fingal Beach in northern NSW when he was bitten on his left thigh by a shark yesterday.
Hannah Mighall, 13, escaped the jaws of a great white in Tasmania after her cousin hit it in the face with his surfboard and carried her to shore.
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