Caught on camera: shark tears through Australian diver’s wetsuit

Brad Vale and his friends were out spear fishing in Australia’s Coral Bay when a reef shark took a bite out of Vale’s wetsuit.

Vale, 19, told Global News they were fishing for mackerel when they noticed some sharks nearby.

“They were being too curious around us,” Vale said. “I dove down and the shark met me down on the bottom and came too close for comfort. So I gave him a poke.”

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READ MORE: Woman taken to hospital with shark still attached to her arm

In the video of the incident, which has garnered over 60,000 views online in two days, a six-foot-long (1.8-metre) reef shark can be seen swimming around Vale.

He pokes it away and immediately the shark lunges towards him and wraps its jaw around his torso.

Vale was able to wrestle the shark off of him and only sustained a torn wetsuit.

READ MORE: Hawaiian man believed his battle with a hungry tiger shark were ‘his final moments’

He said he was shocked by the attack, but kept on with the fishing expedition.

Data from the Global Shark Attack File shows there have been 12 shark attacks in Australia so far this year.

According to Canadian Geographic, you are more likely to die from lightning than a shark attack.