14 year-old-girl fights off shark with bodyboard

Lydia Ward, a 14-year-old New Zealand girl has escaped serious injury in a shark attack by furiously beating the creature about the head with her body board until it let go.

Lydia was swimming in waist-deep water near Invercargill when the shark wrapped its jaws around her hip.

When interviewed by Radio New Zealand, she told how she bashed the "big, grey, slippery thing" with her body board untill it let go.

"I showed Dad and he didn't really believe me but then I showed him my wetsuit with all the blood coming out and he believed me," she told Radio New Zealand. 

It is estimated that the shark was about 1.5m long, and Lydia required hospital treatment for two deep wounds.

Source: Daily Telegraph, Sydney Australia