Kirra-Belle Olsson was surfing at Avoca Beach off the Australian east coast when she was bitten by a nearly four foot shark Friday October 17th.
At first she believed a friend was playing a prank, but when she realized it was a shark, she panicked.
“I just remember catching my first wave, like I did a couple of turns in it and got off and I felt, like, twice something grabbed my foot and I just thought it was a mate behind me trying to scare me,’’ the 13-year-old told The Daily Telegraph.
‘The third time it just swung me around and tried to pull me under and I saw the tail and I was just like, whoa, and I didn’t really know what to do so I started screaming.
“I paddled in, just like in shock, started laughing like, ‘whoa, what the hell, I’ve just been bitten by a shark’’’, she said.
The shark left several puncture wounds and lacerations on her calf and ankle (link to graphic image).
“I paddled … in shock (I) just started laughing, I was like, `Whoa, what the hell, I just got bitten by a shark,”‘ she told Seven Network television.
The wounds (link to graphic image) are not life or limb threatening.
She is recovering at Gosford Hospital, north of Sydney.
Two weeks ago, a man had part of his arm torn off,by a suspected 13 foot great white shark while surfing off the coast of Western Australia near the town of Esperance.
The incident has been marked on the 2014 shark attack bites map.
