Woman bitten by shark while swimming at local beach

A seriously-injured woman attacked by a shark in chest-deep water at her local beach in Sydney’s south on Friday woke up from surgery and said “I should be dead”.

A woman attacked by a shark at her local beach woke up from surgery and said “I should be dead”.

Mangyon Zhang, 56, recounted struggling to stay afloat as she bled out, trying not to splash in the water in fear the shark would return.

Ms Zhang is recovering in hospital after she was bitten by what’s believed to be a bull shark while swimming in chest-height water at Gunyah Beach, at Bundeena, in Sydney’s south about 1.30pm on Friday.

“She was kind of just having a bit of a leisurely swim and making her way back in, and then she said she felt whoosh, that’s how she described it, like a whooshing kind of feeling,” Ms Zhang’s partner Maria Masutti told the Telegraph.

“Then everything went numb, so she didn’t actually feel any pain, it’s amazing how your body must respond from the adrenaline.

Mangyon Zhang was bitten by a shark.

“And then she just noticed all the blood spurting everywhere.”

Ms Masutti said it was only once Ms Zhang saw the water turn red that she realised “something” had bitten her.

Then horror hit as Ms Zhang discovered she couldn’t move and no one could see her.

After almost 20 minutes in the water, she was brought to shore by Blake Donaldson and his partner, who dived in to save her. She had only moved to the area just two weeks prior.

Ms Zhang, who goes by the nickname Mani, was flown to St George Hospital with serious lacerations and wounds to her leg, before undergoing emergency surgery.

Ms Masutti spent the entire night awake by her bedside, reassuring her she was still alive.

“When she opened her eyes, she said ‘I should be dead, I nearly died’ … she started explaining how she felt she was drowning and no one would get to her,” Ms Masutti said.

“She was worried about splashing at the same time, she wanted to get to the beach but she didn’t want to make any motion because she was worried that it would attract the shark, that it was still around.”

Ms Zang was rushed to hospital after being bitten at Gunyah Beach.

Ms Masutti said her partner would hopefully keep her leg despite the extensive mauling, which was likely done by a bull shark that had been posted several times in recent weeks around the Port Hacking area.

“Her legs’ a bit of a mess, it’s gonna be a bit of a long recovery as she’s lost use of her foot, so there’s some sort of nerve or muscle damage, but it didn’t hit any arteries, which is good, so she lives to tell the tale,” she said.

“Mentally she’s just very grateful, and can’t believe that she’s still here … we told her she should buy a lotto ticket.”

Beaches in the Sutherland Shire remained closed on Saturday, with authorities yet to locate the shark involved.

The attack is one of several in Australia this summer.

An elderly man swims at Gunyah Beach in Bundeena, meters from where the shark attack happened on Friday afternoon. Picture: Max Mason-Hubers

Charlize Zmuda, 17, was killed when she was bitten at Bribie Island’s Woorim Beach suffering fatal injuries to her upper body on February 3.

Youth pastor Luke Walford died after being attacked in Queensland’s Keppel Bay Islands National Park in December.

Another man in Queensland was flown to hospital after being bitten by a shark at The Wrecks Walking Track on Moreton Island, a popular tourist destination north of Brisbane.

The 29-year old had abdominal injuries and lacerations to his leg.

Surfer Lance Appleby, 28, went missing after he was attacked by a shark on the Eyre Peninsula in January.

Originally published as Woman bitten by shark while swimming at local beach