British surfer fights off great white shark

A British man was "lucky to be alive" after sustaining horrific injuries fighting off a shark that attacked him as he surfed in South Africa.

Chris Sullivan, 32, kicked and punched what is believed to have been a four-metre great white shark before wrenching his right leg from its jaws and paddling to safety.

He needed 200 stitches for bite wounds to his lower leg and foot after grappling with the shark at Noordhoek beach on the Atlantic coast, but escaped without losing the limb.

Sister Barbara Lander of the Constantiaberg Medi-Clinic in Plumstead, near Cape Town, said Mr Sullivan was a "very, very lucky man".

"He's really lucky to have got away with his life, and still with his leg attached," she said. "They are horrific wounds."

Sister Lander said Mr Sullivan, of Newquay, Cornwall, had spoken of his terror as he turned around about 500 metres out from the shore to see the shark heading towards him.

"He was shocked but when it took hold of him he managed to kick it with his other leg and then punch it," she said. "Then he hauled his right leg free and got away."

Mr Sullivan, who was on holiday with three friends and his girlfriend, was airlifted to the hospital after the attack yesterday for extensive surgery.

Sister Lander said Mr Sullivan would probably spend the next five days in hospital. "He came through the surgery very well and the surgeon is very positive about his future," she said.

"He's had a small skin graft and he's doing very well. The wounds were pretty ragged and there was a fair amount of blood - it wasn't pleasant. Chris was pretty shaken but he's been in good spirits all the way through."

Mr Sullivan's British girlfriend was on the beach when the shark struck.

A friend, Mark Sampson, who moved to South Africa from Cornwall 13 years ago said Mr Sullivan was feeling "fine" after his surgery.

"They managed to put his leg back together and everyone's very happy," Mr Sampson said. "He's a very lucky man."

The group of friends had only arrived in Cape Town to visit Mr Sampson the day before the attack.

A South African doctor who happened to be walking on the beach after the attack gave the surfer immediate first aid.

Clive Mortimer of the South African National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) said: "As far as shark attacks go he was very, very lucky. It's a nasty bite and ... generally you don't walk away from a great white attack and that's what he's done." The NSRI later heard a group of divers about a mile away from the attack site had also reported seeing a shark.

A few weeks ago, Briton Mark Currie, 32, was attacked by a five-metre great white while in a shark-spotting cage. Shark-spotting trips have been blamed for an increase in attacks. A few weeks before Mr Currie's attack, a 77-year-old woman was killed by a shark in the same area.