Former Australian boxer Craig Ison threw punches to get away from a shark that bit him Friday morning while he was off the shore of Main Beach in Evans Head, New South Wales, Australia.
Ison's escape was reminiscent of Australian surfing champ
Mick Fanning who punched at a shark that attacked him on live television during a surfing competition in South Africa on July 19.
Unlike Fanning, Ison suffered serious injuries from Friday's shark attack with a shark bite on the left leg and left arm as he battled the predator while
trying to get back on his surf board, 9 News in Australia reported.
The shark attack also damaged Ison's board, but the boxer was able to find it to paddle back to shore after the incident.
"He was badly bitten," friend Geoff Hill, who took the water with Ison, told the television station. "He was in shock. We put him on a surfboard for a stretcher, called the ambulance and applied the tourniquet, wrapped him up with a towel and covered the wounds ... and applied the best first aid we could on the beach.
"I helped him out of the water. His first words were, 'get a tourniquet on my leg,' so we used a leg rope."
A friend of Ison told the Australian Associated Press that the surfer suffered complications during his surgery at Lismore Base Hospital but did not reveal any details. The AAP stated Ison was listed in serious but stable condition before surgery.
Authorities in the meantime told the media Hill and people near the scene reacted quickly and likely saved Ison's life on the beach.
"Those people are to be praised for their quick thinking, particularly those injuries that needed to be stopped (from) the blood loss and looked like they've saved this man's life," detective inspector Cameron Lindsay told the Australian Broadcast Corp., noted 9 News.
The New South Wales Police Force ordered Main Beach along with Shark Bay and Chinamans Beach closed until 6.30 a.m. Saturday morning where the closure order will be re-evaluated.
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