Surfer fends off shark attack by punching it in the face

A 25-year-old surfer in Hawaii has survived a shark attack by punching it in the face.

11:28 24 October 2013

Jeff Horton, a 25-year-old surfer in Hawaii has survived what could have been a disastrous shark attack by punching it in the eye.

He said that he was surfing near Kilauea when he spotted a fin in the water. He initially thought that it was a stingray but quickly realised it was a shark when the sea creature bit into his surfboard.

He pulled his legs out of the water as the tiger shark swam beneath his surfboard. The impact knocked him off his board and directly on top of the shark. Holding on to the shark with one hand, he punched it as hard as he could.

Horton described the ordeal: "I finally got one nice punch into the eye. I put some really good hits on it, for sure." He added that after the powerful punch in the eye, the shark swam away.

The man then got back on to his board and paddled to the shore along with another surfer as the shark briefly trailed them. He said that he will put his 7ft board, which has a shark teeth imprint, on his wall as a memento.