Beaches on high alert after latest victim suffers 40 puncture wounds while snorkelling

Australia's beaches are on high alert and stretches of coastline have been closed to swimmers after three shark attacks in 24 hours. In the latest, a man was attacked while snorkelling at the mouth of the Illawarra River, near Wollongong, on the east coast of New South Wales.

Steven Fogarty, who suffered 40 puncture wounds to his leg, told how he survived the attack by punching the bull shark in the face. "Something just grabbed me from behind. I just saw the blood all over both feet and had a quick look to make sure both legs were there and they were there," he said.

Fogarty, 24, "started swinging" punches at the predator. "I think I got one of 'em in. That's probably what got rid of him," he said. Bleeding heavily, he flagged down a boat and was taken to hospital.

The attack comes a day after a 13-year-old girl wrestled with a great white shark. Witnesses described the incident as "like a scene from Jaws" as Hannah Mighall was dragged repeatedly under the water by the five-metre predator.

Hannah's cousin Syb Mundy, 33, who was surfing with her at a popular Tasmanian beach, was hailed as a hero for punching the shark to free Hannah's leg from its jaws. "It was thrashing her around like a rag doll but she kept her head together," Mundy told a national radio station. "I can remember seeing the eye come out of the water and the head and I was going to try and poke it in the eye if I could get close enough."

The shark let go of Hannah's leg but then grabbed her surfboard, which was attached to her ankle by a leg-rope, and she was yanked under the water again. "The shark started circling us and coming up underneath us and when it did that we stopped and turned to face it so we could push it out of the way or poke it in the eye," Mundy said, adding that the water was "red with blood".

"Luckily, a wave come along and she was on my back and I said: 'Hannah, no matter how weak you are try and hang on, this wave is going to save our life.' But the shark actually got on to the wave. We looked to our left and this thing started surfing towards us and we just headed straight to the beach."

Hannah was in a stable condition last night, the remnants of her surfboard a reminder of how close she came to losing her life.

The other shark attack happened six hours earlier, in northern New South Wales. Surfer Jonathan Beard, 31, of Brisbane, was bitten on the leg but managed to paddle to shore.

The three attacks, just two weeks after a snorkeller was killed by a great white in Western Australia, have sparked panic, closed stretches of the coastline and fuelled debate over whether overfishing has caused the problem.

Guardian.co.uk

There were also 3 sightings in Adelaide a few weeks ago by a plane spotter, resulting in beaches being closed. A shark also attacked a boat just a few kms off the coast