Scott Wright, 34, from Tasmania, was camped on the beach with his girlfriend when he decided to take a late evening dip. Having swum a short distance into the sea, in a scene straight out of Jaws, the Australian was subsequently set upon by a shark.
"The shark attacked me, grabbed hold of my arm and wouldn't let go, so I ended up punching him in the nose and trying to fight him off," Wright told Australia's Channel Ten news from his hospital bed. "I thought I was a goner. I thought I was going to die."
Having wrestled free of the shark, Wright swam back to the beach, where he collapsed. He was then found by his girlfriend, and given first aid for deep bites to his forearm before being taken to hospital.
Lifeguards were unable to identify the type of shark responsible for the attack, the first at Bondi beach for over 70 years.
Sharks are commonly found at Australian beaches at this time of year. They often swim into shallow and warm waters to look for food, but rarely attack humans. The number of people killed by sharks each year in Australia has remained at an average of around 1.2 per year for the last two centuries.
