Mick Fanning is having one helluva death-defying month — just a week after the champion surfer was chased by a huge shark during a competition shown on live TV, he was pursued again by one of the razor-toothed predators and had to escape on a jet ski.
The second scare came as Fanning entered the water Saturday on the Tweed Coast of New South Wales, Australia, for the first time since his earlier terrifying brush with death at a World Surf League event.
As he was filmed by a television crew for an upcoming feature on CBS News' "60 Minutes," the triple world champion was suddenly seen climbing frantically onto a jet ski and zooming back to shore,
the Courier-Mail newspaper reports.
"There he is," a jolted Fanning says to a reporter as he points to the fast-moving man-eater. "Straight out, I just saw it."
Fanning's by-a-whisker escape was witnessed by his shell-shocked mom who had come to watch her son's first foray back into the water after his earlier shark horror.
Fanning said he is pressing ahead, despite the dangers.
He told The Courier-Mail on Tuesday that his confidence was returning "each and every day. The ocean’s a pretty amazing place and it’s just good to be back in the water."
Fanning plans to resume competition at the next World Surf League event in August — the prestigious Billabong Pro in Tahiti.
Last week,
a woman helplessly watched as her father was fatally gored by a large shark as they spent the day diving off the coast of Tasmania, Australia.
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