A diver who was attacked by a huge 11ft shark while cleaning a boat managed to scare off the beast with an ingenious tactic.
Bailey Haffner, 20, was dressed in diving gear as spent his morning cleaning a boat near the Royal Perth Yacht Club in Western Australia.
However, the young Perth diver felt a sudden bump which caused him to fall from the boat into the sea.
He was left baffled as to how he suddenly ended up in the water but as soon as he turned around he saw a huge shark.
Bailey said: “This shark has come up basically on top of me on my right-hand side and he’s pushed down and sort of done a turn to kick me off the hull of the boat.
He added to 7News : “It was more shock, I didn’t really work out what had happened.
“It was quite a forceful thump and you could feel how thick it was, it was a lot of meat in it.”
However, after some inspired thinking, the 20-year-old tore off his mask to try and scare the shark away by blowing bubbles at the 12ft long beast.
He added: “You wear a regulator scuba diving, so I’ve taken that out of my mouth and held it free flow because sharks hate bubbles, apparently. That must’ve worked for me.”
The move, which potentially could have saved Bailey's life, saw him quickly leave the water as soon as he could.
He jumped onto the pier for safety as he admitted: “There wasn’t too much thinking except get out."
Luckily for Bailey, who has been diving since he was 10-years-old, he managed to escape unscathed with the drama not putting him off returning to clean the boat.
He told Perth Now : “I’ll be back tomorrow or Saturday.
“This time I’m going to bring along my trusty shark shield. I’ll probably dangle a spare one off the boat too just to settle my nerves a little.”
The young diver had a lucky escape as earlier on this year a British diving instructor was savagely killed by a 15ft great white shark.
Simon Nellist, 35, had been training for the Malabar ocean swim when he was attacked.
The Brit diving instructor was tragically killed by the predator as beachgoers watched on helplessly in Sydney.
The attack happened at Buchan Point, which left one beachgoer 'vomiting' in fear.
He died instantly from the "catastrophic injuries", police and ambulance services said.
It was the first fatal shark attack in the Australian city in six decades.
