A 10-year-old boy has described how a shark launched at him three times while he was snorkelling, leaving him with two deep gashes to his foot.
“It went for me, missed,” Jackson told 9News from his hospital bed.
“Then went for me, got one of my flippers, then went for me and got a flipper and my leg.”
The 2-metre bronze whaler left two nasty gashes in the schoolboy’s foot, slicing it from his ankle to his toes.
“I was bleeding at (that) moment … I thought I was going to die because it was really scary,” he said.
Jackon’s father, Blake Bartlett, told 9News he felt as though he was running on water as he rushed his injured son back to shore.
“We were out probably 75 metres, so it was a long way, and felt like a lifetime,” Mr Bartlett said.
Off-duty doctors at the beach gave Jackson first aid before he was airlifted to Perth Children’s Hospital.
“Since it bit me, I wanted to take one of its teeth so I could remember it,” Jackson said.
“I still like sharks. But I just don’t want to swim too close to big ones like that.
“I want to go back surfing. I just love the ocean.”
Jackson is expected to be discharged from hospital tomorrow.
The Bartletts have been travelling around Australia for the past nine months.
It is expected Jackson and his family will fly back home to Sydney this week where he will spend time recovering, before they head back to WA to resume their travels.