Unbelievable! Australian Teen Survives Great White Shark Attack

A 17-year-old surfer survived from an attack of a great white shark. The incident happened last Monday at Ballina's Lighthouse Beach in Australia, which incidentally is the same beach where a Japanese surfer was mauled by a shark last year.

According to CBS News, the teenager was in the beach surfing as it was the first day of summer holiday. David Wright, Ballina's mayor, said that the shark's lower teeth sunk deep into the surfboard's fiberglass while its lower teeth bit the boy's lower body parts.

The white shark came from behind and bit off the surfboard's fins, the teenager's right hip and his right thigh. He was laying on the board, paddling, when the the shark struck him. Lifeguards saw the attack and they rushed to rescue the teenager from being mauled by the shark. The boy was then taken to the ambulance, which went to the Lismore Base Hospital.

"The shark lacerated his leg in three or four places fairly deep," Wright said. "He should be okay. It was very close to his artery."

Witnesses presumed that it was a 10-foot great white shark that attacked the boy. Luckily, the teenager, who is also a Ballina resident, recovered from his injuries and was in a stable condition. He even joked around the correspondents, telling them not to inform his mother about the incident, according to the Sydney Morning Herald report.

There have been four shark attacks in the Ballina area requiring hospital treatment since that tragedy and many more near misses, Wright said.

A 770-yard nylon shark barrier was supposed to be put along the waters off Lighthouse Beach to keep people away from sharks, but the state government abandoned the said plan last month. There are already three attempted trials that "identified significant installation and maintenance issue," the government said.

The mayor said that he is already in discussion with the state government to fund surveillance drones to monitor the beaches. Ballina's tourism dwindling tourism could be further affected by this recent shark attack.