Teenager's miracle escape from Great White shark attack

Zoe Steyn was 75 metres off shore waiting to catch a wave when she suddenly saw the man-eater rising from below. Photo / Getty

Teenager Zoe Steyn had a miracle escape after a Great White shark grabbed her surfboard in its giant jaws and shook her off into the water.

Schoolgirl Zoe, 13, was 75 metres off shore waiting to catch a wave when she suddenly saw the man-eater rising from below and munch into her board.

She was sat astride the fibreglass surfboard when the 10 foot long predator suddenly struck as she surfed Nahoon Reef off the coast of South Africa earlier this month.

But incredibly she managed to survive the attack by the Great White at the famous surfing spot off South Africa's coast of East London in the Indian Ocean, the Daily Telegraph reported.

Terrified Zoe, of East London, said:"I just saw this huge black eye looking straight at me and a huge bang as it took my board and began shaking it.

"It latched on with its jaws just missing my leg and it tipped me backwards and I fell in and I just saw the black shape of it in the water and panicked.

"I heard another surfer screaming at me to get back on my board and I pulled myself onto it but was terrified of where the shark was and what to do.

"Then I saw a surfer friend JP Veaudry paddling straight out to get me and he told me not to think about the shark but just paddle for all I was worth.

"He kept asking me if I had been bitten by the shark but I said I didn't know as I was in a state of shock and adrenalin was just pumping through my body.

"I have never been so relieved to get on a beach in my life and JP told me I was very lucky. They reckon it was at least ten feet long, maybe bigger.

"It was the first time I have ever seen a shark in 3 years of surfing and my memory of it is this big black eye looking straight at me - I was so, so scared" she said.

Zoe has overcome here fears by getting straight back in the water the next day but says she doubts if she will go back to Nahoon Reef ever again.

She said:"I can't thank JP enough for risking his life to paddle out and save me and get back to shore. It has taught me never to surf alone ever again" she said.

Photographer JP, who lost a leg in a hit and run accident several years ago and is No 2 in the world at adaptive surfing, said: "It all happened very quickly.

"I heard a death defying scream and saw loads of thrashing about in the water.

"Zoe was screaming and flailing in the sea as the shark had pulled the board out from under her. My first thought was to get out of there and onto the beach.

"But I couldn't just leave her out there with the shark so I paddled straight out to get her and she had got back on her board and I paddled back in with her.

"She said she didn't know if she had been bitten but when we got to the beach I saw she was ok but she was lucky that she was sitting on her surfboard when it attacked.

"The shark had bitten in the exact place her arm would have been if she had been paddling and who knows what would have happened if there was blood in the water.

"I am just glad she is ok to surf another day. You can see the teeth marks on the board so you can imagine what it would have done if it got Zoe" said JP, aged 40.