Grandmother fights off shark while snorkelling near Great Barrier Reef

Patricia Trumbull, 60, was swimming near the northeast Whitsunday Islands on Saturday when she was attacked and suffered deep wounds. She hit back, using her fists to fight what she believed to be a 5ft (1.5m) bronze whaler, a species known for its aggression. “As I was swimming I felt this almighty huge tug,” she said from a bed at nearby Mackay Base Hospital. “I turned and saw this huge shark and thought: I am not going to let this shark get the better of me.

“I started punching it on the nose, punching, punching, punching, and then it got me under the water — not much — because I started kicking it on its neck.”

Doctors said that Ms Trumbull, a mother of five, lost 40 per cent of her blood in the attack. She was pulled back on board the catamaran from which she had been snorkelling. Local resort staff gave her first aid before she was airlifted to hospital for surgery and blood transfusions. Her condition is now stable.