Video: British Grandfather Gets Physical to Save Children from Shark
OutdoorHub Reporters 01.21.13
Sixty-two year-old Paul Marshallsea was vacationing on Australia’s Sunshine Coast when his call to action came. According to the Telegraph, a six-and-a-half-foot-long dusky shark came perilously close to a group of toddlers swimming nearby. Marshallsea and an unnamed man jumped into the water and began pushing the shark away. They managed to grab the shark by the tail and pull it to deeper waters, trying to control the animal’s thrashing and biting attempts.
“The shark nearly took my leg off in a split second–it was that quick,” Marshallsea said. Appropriate care was taken to not injure the shark, especially because of the infant sharks trailing it. Soon after the struggle the shark rejoined its family, and with the help of helicopters and ski jets, was eventually led back into the ocean proper. View a video of part of the encounter below.
httpv://youtu.be/flShngWyxrY
People on the scene praised Marshallsea for his heroic–if dangerous–confrontation. A spokesman for the Australian coast guard commented, “We don’t recommend manhandling sharks but this gentleman did a great job.”
Despite the shark’s size, duskies have been known to attack humans in the past and are best approached with caution.
