Girl, 13, tells of horrifying moment a shark 'grabbed me, shook me and spat me out'

Girl, 13, tells of horrifying moment a shark 'grabbed me, shook me and spat me out'

By Richard Shears
Last updated at 10:49 AM on 18th January 2009

A 13-year-old girl has told a terrifying story of how a 16ft great white shark shook her 'like a rag doll' in its jaws before spitting her back out.

Recovering in hospital from the ordeal which almost claimed her life, Hannah Mighall told how she was sitting on her surfboard off the north-east coast of Tasmania when the huge shark - 'a big black shadow' - came up underneath her.

With her rescuer, her cousin Syb Mundy at her side as she relayed her story in the Royal Hobart Hospital, Hannah said that if it wasn't for Syb she might not have survived the attack, which resulted in her having more than 200 stitches in a severe bite wound to her right leg.


Recovering: Hannah Mighall and her rescuer Syb Mundy with her shark-bitten surfboard. She was attacked by a great white off the coast of Tasmania

She clearly recalls her reaction when she saw the shape beneath her: 'In my head, I was just like "Oh my God, it's a shark".

'It was massive. It didn't look real. Its head was like 2m wide. It just seemed so big.

'I remember it grabbing my leg and I just started screaming for Syb - and then all of a sudden I turned around and he (Syb) was right behind me.

'I can't remember too much pain - I couldn't really feel it. There was a little bit of pain but it didn't really hurt that much. I think the shock stopped the pain.'

Speaking to Hobart's The Mercury newspaper, Hannah said that as the great white grabbed her leg and started shaking her like a rag doll, Syb paddled into the surf which had turned red with her blood and punched the shark repeatedly until it released her.


Survivor: Hannah needed 200 stitches to a severe bite wound in her leg

'I'm just glad the shark didn't like me and spat me back out,' said Hannah, who insisted that despite her life-threatening ordeal she did not want the shark hunted down and killed.

'The shark deserves to live like any other creature,' she said. 'I was in its territory. It's not its fault.'

She's determined to continue surfing - particularly as her house has a private track leading down to the beach.

'Surfing is the best thing in the world,' she said, as she and Syb gazed at the gaping tear in her surfboard - which he'd brought along to the hospital - made by the shark.

Despite what were believed to be life-threatening injuries at the time of the attack, Hannah has managed to stand up for the first time recently and she now hopes to be discharged from hospital within a day or two.

'I'm really looking forward to seeing my border collie and my two cats.'


'It deserves to live': Hannah does not want the 16ft great white to be hunted down, despite her terrifying ordeal (file photo)

As for that badly damaged surfboard, she plans to have it mounted and she will then hang it on her bedroom wall as a trophy.

Syb, who helped Hannah onto his own surfboard so they could escape to the beach on a freak wave, said: 'If she wasn't competent in the water, I don't know what would have happened.

'She was definitely a hero. There wasn't any way we could have got through it if there was a weak link in our chain.'

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1120904/Girl-13-tells-horrifying-moment-shark-grabbed-shook-spat-out.html