A 52-year-old woman fought off a Great White shark that attacked her off Australia's east coast yesterday, escaping the potentially deadly encounter with only cuts to her hand, officials said.
Police said the shark knocked the woman out of her sea kayak as she paddled 150m from shore near the popular tourist spot of Byron Bay north of Sydney.
The predatory animal, believed to be a deadly Great White shark, then came back to bite her hand while she was underwater.
"She was able to fend it off but suffered a laceration to her right forearm in the incident," a police spokeswoman said.
"The shark is believed to be an eight or nine foot [2.5m] white pointer," she said.
Despite her injury, the woman made it back to her kayak and the shore.
The woman was treated at the Byron Bay District Hospital for a bite wound.
"She received a few stitches in her arm but there was no other damage, fortunately," a hospital spokesman said.
Officials closed the beach, a popular surf break known as "The Pass" and advised people against going in the water.
Lifeguard Stephen Leahy said the shark was spotted about 90 minutes after the attack and had been chased out to sea.
"It's not unusual to see sharks when you are out at sea," he said. "But for one to ... go to today's extremes, it's most unusual."
The shark attack was the second in three days in Australia, with a man bitten by a bronze whaler on Saturday while spearfishing in north Queensland.
He was attacked by a bronze whaler shark while spearfishing near Australia's Great Barrier Reef.
The unidentified man was treated onboard his charter boat for a 30cm cut to his calf muscle before being airlifted by helicopter to a hospital in Cairns.
In January, an abalone diver had a close encounter with a 3m shark which closed its mouth over his head and shoulders before he freed himself by clubbing the fish in the eyes and head with a chisel.
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