Arabic version: ليا ستيوارت تستعيد نجاتها من هجوم قرش في كوجي

According to ABC News, Leah Stewart has described fighting a great white shark that attacked her while she was finishing a swim at Coogee Beach in Sydney’s east on June 13. The 35-year-old teacher said she decided to strike the shark with a “left hook” because she is right-handed.

Stewart told Nine’s 60 Minutes that the shark dragged her underwater and was about 30 centimetres from her face. She said she thought of her daughter and repeatedly punched the animal until it released her. “It was like fighting a dinosaur,” she said, describing the shark as big and saying punching it was like hitting a brick wall.

The four-metre-long great white shark left Stewart with extensive injuries, including bites across her arms and legs and extreme blood loss. Her left lower arm was amputated after multiple operations, and she was placed in a medically induced coma for more than a week at St Vincent’s Hospital. In an update on a fundraising site last week, Stewart wrote that she felt she had been given a second chance at life.

Off-duty volunteer lifeguard Charlie Verco, who was training for a paddleboarding competition, saw Stewart in the water and helped her cling to a drink-bottle holder on his board. After she was brought ashore, lifeguards and an off-duty doctor performed CPR. Riot squad officers in the area had tourniquets, which were used to help stop blood loss.

The interview was released as New South Wales expanded shark mitigation measures before spring. Two shark-detection buoys have been installed in Sydney Harbour near Balmoral and Lady Bay, while drone surveillance is set to expand to more than 90 beaches. Agriculture Minister Tara Moriarty said shark nets would be re-installed at 51 beaches.