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Bodyboarder, 14, fights off shark

  • Lea
    February 2010
    A 14-year-old New Zealand girl had to pound a shark on the head with her bodyboard to make it release her from its grip at Oreti Beach near Invercargill last night.

    Fiona Ward said her daughter Lydia was bodyboarding in waist-deep water at the beach about 6.30pm when the shark attacked, lunging at her and wrapping its jaws around her hip.

    The shark's bite penetrated her wetsuit and her skin, Mrs Ward said.

    Lydia thought she stood on the shark, tried to move away and stood on it again, she said.

    "It just came right out of the water and bit her."

    But the quick-thinking teenager furiously whacked the shark on the head with her bodyboard until it let her go, Mrs Ward said.

    Her brother, who was swimming next to her, estimated the shark was 1.5 metres long.

    Lydia was not seriously hurt but got "quite a fright".

    She was treated for her wounds at home but was later taken to Southland Hospital to get the deeper of two wounds examined, Mrs Ward said.

    Neither child plans to go swimming at the beach any time soon, she said.

    Senior Sergeant Bruce Terry, of Invercargill, said the girl was bodyboarding about 500 metres north of the main entrance to the beach at the time.

    Police patrolled the beach without further incident, he said.

    "It was an unfortunate incident but when sea creatures are stood on, people are always at risk."

    http://www.smh.com.au/world/bodyboarder-14-fights-off-shark-20100202-n978.html

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