Mother 'Terrified' After Shark Attacks Surfer Son During Competition
Mick Fanning was unharmed following scary encounter.
— -- The mother of a surfer who was attacked by a shark during a competition in South Africa said she was “terrified” by video of the attack.
"I went over to the television almost as though I could pull him out of the television,” Elizabeth Osborne, the mother of surfer Mick Fanning, told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio. “I just wanted to save him really, but there was nothing I could do.”
The J-Bay Open was canceled after Fanning was attacked.
Video captured Fanning, 34, clutching his surfboard and kicking at the shark.
"I instantly just jumped," Fanning told the World Surf League, which hosted the event. "It just kept coming at my board."
Fanning said he "just saw fins" – not the shark's teeth. "I was waiting for the teeth to come at me," he said.
The surfer said he even defended himself, punching the shark in the back.
Fanning was picked up by safety boats and was unharmed.
"Before I knew it, the boat was there, the jet skis were there... I just can’t believe it," Fanning said. "To walk away from that, I'm just so stoked.”