A survivor of the shark attack said that as he tried to blink, the shark winked at him and then bit him on the leg.
Surfer Mel Ismail says the shark winked at him before biting his leg while he was surfing alone at Glenfield Beach in Western Australia.
Cooper Gallant chases his professional fishing dream with 'No Plan B'
Bassmaster Elite Series pro Cooper Gallant tells OutKick OutDoors how he got his start in competitive fishing, spent years chasing his dream, and refused to think about fishing.
An Australian surfer encountered a shark while surfing alone at Glenfield Beach on Australia's West Coast last month. He says the shark "winked" at him before biting his leg.
Mel Ismail, a 56-year-old father, was rescued by another surfer who happened to appear on the beach and was willing to risk his life by grabbing his board and wading into the bloody water.
Following the attack, Dr. Mary Pinder, head of the ICU, said: "This person's condition is stable, but he suffered serious injuries and will have a long recovery."
This was a few weeks ago. Ismail is now talking about how one minute he was watching a pod of dolphins and the next he was looking into the eyes of a shark that had pounced on him.
"At first I thought I had been hit by a dolphin because there were so many of them," Ismail told Australia's ABC News. "No, it wasn't, something grabbed me and dragged me into the water. And I knew it was a shark."
Veteran lifeguard, 71, was swept away by a great white shark off the coast of Maine
After dragging him under the water, he says that he was face to face with the shark and looked into its eyes.
Ismail continued: I reached a place where I saw his eyes. “It had a big black eye, and I was trying to put my finger in. I knew it was my leg."
What happened next caused him to lose his right leg below the knee.
An unapologetic, unforgivable Craig-carton show. Download his daily podcast now!
"I personally think it flashed me and then it grabbed my leg and I knew it had," Ismail said of the shark attack.
From there, he tried to keep his composure. His goal was to survive. He did it, even though he lost part of his leg, with the help of another surfer who showed up at the right time.
Get all the stories you need to know from the most powerful names in news delivered to your inbox every morning.