Shark attack survivor recalls shark winking at him before biting off his leg

A shark attack survivor has recalled a chilling anecdote of the chilling moments when he came face-to-face with a shark last month.

An Australian surfer, identified as a 56-year-old Mel Ismail, made first ever television appearance with an Australian broadcaster, ABC News, since the fatal shark attack while surfing at Glenfield Beach on the coast of Western Australia.

Ismail was rescued by another surfer who happened to be at the beach and was willing to put his life in danger by heading towards the bloody water.

Ismail, while recalling the nightmare of how that one minute he was staring at a pod of dolphins and the next he was looking into the eye of a shark that had stuck him hard.

“I thought I got hit by a dolphin, initially, because there were so many of them.”

“No, it wasn’t, something grabbed me and dragged me down into the water. And I knew it was a shark,” Ismail recalled the horrific moment.

After the shark pulled him under the water, he came face-to-face with the shark and looked it in the eye.

“I got to a point where I saw its eye. It had a big black eye, and I was trying to get my finger into. I knew it had my leg,” Ismail continued.

What happened next left him missing his right leg below the knee.

“I personally reckon it gave me the wink, and then shut my leg off, and I knew it had taken my leg,” Ismail recounted of the shark attack.

However, despite losing his leg, Ismail kept composure, as his only goal was to survive, which he did with the help of a fellow surfer who turned up at the right time.