Local big wave surfer witnesses South Africa shark encounter

It’s a video that has gone viral — a pro surfer narrowly escaping a shark attack in South Africa during a competition. Mick Fanning fought off the attack and lived to tell the tale moments later. An eyewitness to that attack is local big wave surfer Peter Mel from Santa Cruz.

NewsChannel 5 had a chance to talk to him at the airport in South Africa on his way back home. He said a shark encounter was the furthest thing from his mind as he got ready to call the competition airing live. In fact, he was out surfing before the finals began. Twenty minutes later, he was on a jet ski, just feet away watching the horror unfold.

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“I didn’t actually see a shark or anything,” Mel said. “I didn’t see the fins. I saw Mick on top of something and sort of scrambling. Instantly in my mind I knew what was happening and then he disappeared.”

Instantly, Mel and his team jumped into action. While one jet ski grabbed Fanning, Mel and the driver on a second jet ski grabbed Julian Wilson before all meeting up on a boat offshore with spectators looking on.

“That was the first thing I did was grabbed him and hugged him,” Mel said. “And we were all in shock. And then it was like ‘Oh yeah, they kind of want to talk to us.’ I had the producer in my ear telling me talk to him talk to him.'”

That interview, moments after what could’ve been a deadly situation.

“He disappeared and he was under water for a while,” Mel said. “A lot of that, he was being dragged underwater by his leash…finally it broke and you see him surface and we were already bolting toward him and that’s when he comes back into view and you see him like ‘Oh my gosh, I can’t run from this thing’ and he turns around like he’s going to take on this shark if it’s coming back for him.”

Fanning said he punched the shark several times to fend off the attack.

Mel said professional surfers know the risks in the water, especially in places like South Africa, Australia and Fiji. Because of that, they have each others backs. But nothing could’ve prepared them for this.

“Kind of just processing the whole incident,” Mel said. “Mick is doing really well. I’m sure he will go through ebbs and flows of how he feels but I think he’s handled it well. I think Julian is even in a tougher situation because he was witnessing everything and he thought he was going to see his friend die.”

Wilson is being called a hero for paddling right into danger to try to save Fanning. The final round was cancelled and the two split the winnings. After the encounter, the shark disappeared. Mel thinks it was spooked after all the commotion from Fanning and the jet skis, realizing he wasn’t its normal food source.