Gutsy!

An admiring and respectful doff o' the cap to Syb Munday of Tasmania, Australia, for his courage in the face of mortal peril.

This is Hannah Mighall’s surfboard after a great white shark decided it was feeling hungry.




The 16ft predator powered out of the depths to grab 13-year-old Hannah as she surfed off Bingalong Bay, Tasmania.

His jaws ripped out a mouth-sized chunk of board and then bit and held the teenager’s legs, dragging her under the water.

As she fought for her life, her cousin and fellow surfer Syb Munday swam out to her and began punching the shark on the head.




‘It let Hannah go, but I was terrified it would have another go,’ he said. Hitting the shark ‘was like hitting a brick wall – it was that dense’, he added. ‘It was easily the length of a car. It was just a monster.

‘Once it let her go she was bleeding pretty bad. There was a lot of blood in the water. I think it just didn’t like the taste of her, to tell you the truth.’

Syb, 20, pulled Hannah on to his board and made for the beach – but was horrified to see the shark keeping pace with them.

‘Then we caught a wave and I thought that was great because it would carry us away from it – but the shark caught the same wave and when I looked again it was right beside us,’ he said.

‘We looked to our left and this thing started surfing towards us. I remember seeing the eye come out of the water and I was going to try to poke it if I could get close enough,’ he said.

‘But I’m no hero because Hannah put up her own fight before I reached her,’ he added. 'She was scared, of course, but she fought it off. She’s got bites on her leg but she’s doing OK in hospital.’




Police Sergeant Jason Elmer said: ‘Syb did a magnificent job.

'He's extremely brave in his actions. He’s probably saved her life.’

That took real courage. I've been around Great White sharks (off Seal Island in False Bay, South Africa) far too often to take them lightly. They're bloody dangerous!

Well done, Sir!

Peter