Brit businessman fights off 13ft SHARK by punching it as it mauls his foot during snorkelling trip off the Galapagos Islands
Andrew Phipps Newman, 45, was on holiday in the Galapagos Islands when the four-metre long shark latched onto his right leg
A LONDONER shook off a shark that clamped its razor-sharp teeth into his foot by PUNCHING the predator in its face.
Andrew Phipps Newman, 45, was on holiday in the Galapagos Islands, near Ecuador, when the four-metre long shark latched onto him.
The advertising exec suffered a broken bone and three severed ligaments in his terrifying ordeal.
Mr Newman then had to endure a three-hour boat ride to the nearest hospital.
Luckily, one of the passengers was a doctor and a fellow Londoner.
He told the : "When I close my eyes, all I can see is the shark’s white eye and my foot in his mouth.
He added: "What I ultimately found was how precious my life is and how happy I am to be alive."
Mr Newman was trying to film a sea lion on a rock with his GoPro when he felt a tugging and thought someone was trying to play a practical joke.
Then he turned and saw he was the intended prey of the dangerous beast.
He said: “I punched him, GoPro in hand, harder and harder until he let go.
"I just went into automatic mode.”
Mr Newman, who co-founded advertising agency DOOH.com in 2013, was rescued but was bleeding heavily.
To cope with the pain he had a couple of shots of tequila and a mojito while fellow passengers treated him.
British doctor Kathryn Gilbert, 27, who previously worked in the A&E department at St Georges Hospital in Tooting, stopped the bleeding with bandages and towels.
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She said: “It was quite the experience, as unsurprisingly I’ve never dealt with a shark bite working in the UK."
Last month photos emerged of a great white shark looming over a diver moments before he rips the flipper off his foot in a horror "test bite" moment.
Callum Stewart miraculously escaped with his life after the 3.5m great white made his attack off the coast of Martin Island in New South Wales, Australia.
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