A man has fought off a shark while swimming at Sydney’s Bondi beach, the first reported attack at the beach in 70 years.

Scott Wright was left with deep gashes in his right forearm after the incident in which he said the shark grabbed him as he swam in the sea off the popular tourist spot.

The 34-year-old recounted from his hospital bed how he punched the shark when it bit into his arm before managing to swim back to shore.

“The shark attacked me, grabbed hold of my arm and wouldn’t let go, so I ended up punching him in the nose and trying to fight him off,” Wright told Australia's Channel Ten news. “I thought I was a goner. I thought I was going to die,” he said.

Wright, on a holiday from Tasmania, was camping out at the beach with his girlfriend.
He went into the sea at dusk, when sharks are at their most active and are hunting for food.

After getting back to the beach, he collapsed and was found by his girlfriend. An ambulance crew treated him for shock and deep gouges to his arm before taking him to hospital for further treatment.

Lifeguards on duty at Bondi said that they did not know what type of shark Wright encountered but judging from his injuries, it would have been less than two metres long.