Shark survivor in good spirits

He's going to buy a new wetsuit and a shark's tooth as a souvenir, said Chris Sullivan, who survived a shark attack at Noordhoek beach on Monday.

Sullivan was recuperating in the Constantiaberg MediClinic where he had undergone surgery after he was attacked by what is believed to have been a great white shark.

Sullivan, 32, from New Quay, in Cornwall, and friend Keith Lawson of Scotland, were surfing about 09:45 when the attack took place.

Lawson said he saw the shark only after it had attacked Sullivan.

"The shark was between us and Chris was fighting it. I saw the shark's dorsal and tailfin, and they were about two metres apart.

The shark's mouth was about a metre wide, he said, and estimated that shark measured between three and four metres.

Barbara Robinson, Sullivan's girlfriend, who had arrived with him in South Africa on Saturday, was not at the beach when the attack took place.

She and Sullivan were in Cape Town for two reasons, namely to surf and to check it out with an eye on moving to South Africa. She said: "Chris and Keith wanted to surf and we were considering emigrating here. But I'm not so sure whether I want to live here anymore."

Shortly after the attack, Sullivan phoned her and repeatedly told her not to panic.

"I couldn't believe it when he told me he had been attacked by a shark. I thought he was phoning to tell me someone had broken into our car."

"Yet, I feel I'm the luckiest person in the world, because how many people can say their loved one has survived a shark attack?"