“My ski just kind of lifted above the water,” Nat told the outlet of the incident, which occurred off the shores of Adelaide. “The next thing I knew, I was in the air, and then I was in the water.”
“And then I saw this figure just fall back into the water,” he continued. “It was a big shark.”
“My heart just sunk,” Nat’s father, Murray, told reporters after seeing the ski, but not his son, in the water after the attack.
“You don’t realize how much you absolutely love your kids until something like that happens,” Murray said of finally seeing his son, per thePost.
In apost to social media, Surf Life Saving South Australia said Nat was safe and with his family “thanks to the amazing efforts of [our] whole community that were in the water with him.”
Surf Life Saving SA/Facebook
While officials have not confirmed the species of shark that attacked Nat, they believe it was a Great White, according to thePost.
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South Australian Ocean and Surf Ski Paddlers race director Craig Burton toldAustralia’s ABC Newsthat while shark sightings have occurred in Adelaide during the spring, he had never seen an attack happen during competition.
“I’ve personally been doing this for well over 40 years and I do know some of our paddlers have seen sharks while out paddling,” he explained, “but never anything like this.”
According to ABC, search teams were unable to locate the shark after the incident, but beachgoers have since returned to the water.
Meanwhile, Nat told reporters he is thankful and feeling very fortunate.
“I might buy a lottery ticket,” he said, according to thePost.
He also called the incident “an absolute freak accident,” adding it was “a one-in-a-million thing that probably won’t happen again in my lifetime.”
source: people.com
