Australian surf champion Mick Fanning, 34, fought off a shark during the final heat of a world tour event at Jeffreys Bay in South Africa’s Eastern Cape Province on Sunday in dramatic vision broadcast live around the world.
He survived uninjured, with his rival and close friend Julian Wilson, also from Australia, furiously swimming towards him to help, despite the danger posed by the shark, believed to be a great white.
“This man came to my aid like a warrior!!,” Fanning said of Wilson in an Instagram post after social media went into meltdown over the narrow escape, with a YouTube click of the attack getting more than 11 million views. “It was by far the scariest thing I have ever been through and am still frightened,” he added.
Reports in Australia said Queensland State was considering a bravery award for Wilson, whose courageous actions were praised and appreciated online.
It is commonly believed that Fanning may quit the competition after he had experienced the lucky escape. But he said on Instagram that: “Jbay is an incredible place and I will go back one day”, referring to Jeffreys Bay.
His manager, Ronnie Blakey, told Australia’s Triple M radio he believed Fanning would still compete in the next leg of the World Surf League Tour in Tahiti next month. “He is in a fantastic position to have a run at his fourth world title... I think Mick will regroup,” he said.
The World Surf League, which organized the J-Bay Open, said the surfing world was still in shock and while the rescue teams did a great job, the situation could have been much worse. “Certainly it will give us an opportunity to sit down and re-evaluate more the safety side of what we do,” commissioner Kieren Perrow told Australian Associated Press.
Perrow said authorities would look to employ new and improving technologies to prevent sharks, adding that the South African stop was not the only location with a reputation for sharks.
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