Sydney mother punched shark repeatedly to survive attack: 'Like fighting a dinosaur'

A Sydney woman who survived a shark attack has described how she repeatedly punched a 4-metre great white shark during the ordeal, saying it felt "like fighting a dinosaur".

Leah Stewart, 34, was dragged underwater at Coogee Beach in June when the shark bit into her thigh and arms, causing severe blood loss and injuries that led to doctors amputating her left arm.

In an interview aired on Sunday, the mother of one said she was determined to live for her baby daughter. "In my head, I was like... 'You are not taking me away from my daughter', and I twisted myself around and I just started punching it over and over and over again," she told Nine Network's 60 Minutes.

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Stewart said she spotted the shark after hearing a shriek behind her, turning to see a "huge" fin. The shark's face was "horrific" with "black little beady eyes" and its "teeth and its mouth was massive". At one point it was just 30cm from her.

Despite her injuries, she kept fighting. "I must have got a really good one in and so it let me go. It was the hardest thing in the world, but I fought my way out of there," she said.

Stewart was pulled to shore by other swimmers and placed in an induced coma, undergoing nearly a dozen surgeries. She said she doesn't want to be remembered as "a girl that got mauled on the beach" but as "the woman that punched the shark in the face".

𝗗𝗼𝘄𝗻𝗹𝗼𝗮𝗱 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗔𝗽𝗽 ↓