‘I tried to shove it into its mouth’ : Shark attack victim describes how he survived
A Western Australian surfer who suffered a vicious shark attack earlier this week has spoken out about how he escaped.
Alex Travaglini was flown to Royal Perth Hospital where he remains in a stable condition after his legs were mauled surfing off Gracetown on Monday.
Alex managed to swim to shore where quick-thinkers used their board leg ropes to form a tourniquet.
He tells Chris Kenny to call the situation frightening is an “understatement”.
“It managed to latch onto my left calf.”
Struggling with the shark, Alex describes how he “wrestled” with it before shoving his board into its mouth.
“I tried to shove to it in its mouth and I used that same motion to push myself off that board.”
“I suppose sometimes we surprise ourselves with how we act in these situations.
“The survival instinct kicks in and luckily my survival instinct was fairly sharp and I managed to get away.”
Listen to the harrowing details of the event below
A GoFundMe page has since been set up, with Alex donating a portion of all proceeds “to help better understand shark behaviour and minimise or prevent attacks altogether”.