‘I watched as woman was savaged by great white shark’

Horrified witnesses have revealed the moment blood filled the water after a shark attacked a 20-year-old floating on an inflatable ring.

A horrified witness to a bloody shark attack has revealed how he wrapped the victim in towels after danger struck in the open sea.

Jacquelin Morley, 20, was paddling in an inflatable pool ring offshore at Kelp Beds Beach in Esperance, Western Australia when the 3m great white shark sunk its teeth into her.

The young swimmer is lucky to be alive after the horror attack, which saw the predator bite into her torso. She managed to swim to shore where locals tended to her before she was flown to hospital in Perth.

Speaking to the West Australian, Darren Patten was swimming next to Jacquelin’s group when danger struck.

“It sort of makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up,” he said.

Another local, Barry Brown, said he and his brothers had been nervously watching her drift for about half an hour prior to the attack.

Jacquelin Morley, 20, was attacked by the shark of the WA coast.

“She just seemed to be getting deeper and deeper and deeper,” Mr Brown told the ABC.

“Then we actually saw a figure under the [pool ring] and we weren’t quite sure whether it was a dolphin or what it was.

“The shark actually circled a couple of times and then took back off into the blue.”

Mr Brown said there was a long trail of blood in the water and he was worried the shark would return as he went out to help her.

When he was about 20m out he said he picked up the woman and ran as fast as he could back to the beach, where his girlfriend met them.

“We wrapped her up in a towel, in one motion, chucked her in the back of a car and then straight off to the hospital.”

Witnesses have told how they helped the woman after the shark attack.

Mr Patten added the terrifying scene unfolded seconds after he left the water after a dip.

“I came out and I was towelling off … then literally 20 or 30 seconds later I saw a group of friends congregating near the shore and there was no longer anyone on the blow up,” he told the West Australian.

“She was trying desperately to come through the break and waving her hands calling them [her friends] in.”

Surf Life Saving WA confirmed a 3.3m white shark had been sighted at the beach around 12.26pm and also received another report of a 3m shark 100m offshore. The beach was closed as a result of the attack.