Surfer narrowly suvives shark attack

A surfer said today he screamed with fear and was convinced he would die after a shark attacked him, biting his side and tearing a chunk out of his surf board.

‘‘I thought I was dead. I thought I was going to die right there and then,’’ said Mick Valentine, 33.

Valentine said he was screaming with terror as he tried to get to the beach after being attacked last night off Noraville on the east coast.

‘‘I aimed for the beach as quickly as I could, screaming in fear,’’ he told Channel Nine television.

‘‘I didn’t know what was happening. I just wanted to get out of the water. I never want to go through that experience again,’’ he said.

Television footage of Valentine’s injuries showed a deep wound on the right side of his torso.

Valentine said he might not have survived if the shark had attacked any other part of his body.

‘‘If it had got my arm, I wouldn’t have had an arm and I wouldn’t have been able to paddle and I wouldn’t have been able to swim and I would’ve been dead,’’ he said.