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Professional Surfer Mick Fanning Escapes Shark Attack During

The footage from an earlier heat at the competition in South Africa picks up a huge dark shadow, metres from where the Australian surfer narrowly escaped a great white attack. I can not believe you’re ok brother WOW!!!!!!Hallucinant!!!!!

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The New York Times reports on one of the more harrowing sports moments in recent memory, which concluded, thankfully, with Fanning safely leaving the area of a shark attack with his appendages intact. He commended everyone involved in the rescue, including Wilson, who was “sprint paddling to get to his friend”. Later on, while safely away from the predator, a visibly shaken Mick Fanning is seen bent over in relief at the narrow escape.

Fanning’s mother, Elizabeth Osborne, saw the entire ordeal play out on TV.

“It was absolutely terrifying”.

Rebecca, now 21, said she had just finished eating a birthday breakfast when she chose to go in the water.

“I’m totally fine. I’ve got nothing wrong with me”, Fanning says in the video. She said, “I just couldn’t believe what I was seeing, really … It was just bad”.

A mother watched in horror as her son fought off a shark during a surfing competition on live television.

Fortunately, Fanning was able to avoid any injury, as the shark only snapped Fanning’s leash.

“It was extraordinary vision to see a surfer of that caliber and that notoriety actually wrestling with a shark”.

As I continued to scan for clues on the yum yum yellow phenomenon I came across this image from a recent shark attack in North Carolina.

“I knew there was only one possible reason that would ever happen in a contest, and that’s if someone got attacked by a shark”, Slater said. “It looked like an investigating incident rather than the shark wanting to eat the surfer”.

Commentator Ross Williams said there are occasionally shark sightings in and around events, but an actual attack was very unusual.

Wilson has been hailed a hero after he gave a teary interview telling of his fears he could not reach Fanning quick enough.

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It comes as champion surfer Kelly Slater revealed a close friend of his had “clearly” seen a shark in the water not long before Fanning almost lost his life. “And it just kept coming at my board”, Fanning said, once safe on the rescue boat. “I punched it in the back”.

One of the many meme images doing the rounds on social media after the incident