TERRIFYING images show a great white shark stalking a beach minutes after a young woman was savaged.
The 20-year-old was paddling in an inflatable pool ring around 200 yards off shore in Australia when the 11ft predator sunk its teeth into her.
She managed to swim ashore where locals tended to her, before she was airlifted to hospital in Perth.
But just half an hour after the attack, the great white shark was spotted lurking close to shore in the water near Wylie Bay, near Esperance, Western Australia, news.com.au reports.
Local Barry Brown said he and his brothers had been nervously watching her drift for about half an hour prior to the attack.
"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."
He said the woman waved her arms and started calmly swimming on her back, with one hand holding her side, returning to shore.
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"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 20 yards 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."
The attack took place in the notorious Esperance area, which has seen several fatal shark attacks in recent years.
The local authorities said the state’s shark response unit was investigating and urged swimmers to take care.
At the end of January, video showed a great white shark prowling around an island where a group of swimmers were stranded.
The beast was quickly sounded to warn swimmers on the shore and a few of those on the island were able to dash to Twilight Beach, Esperance.
In November last year, Brit dad Paul Millachip, 57, was in the sea off Western Australia when he was dragged underwater by a 14ft great white.
Since 2017, three people have been killed by sharks in the Esperance area.
Gary Johnson was killed by a shark off the coast of Esperance, near Cull Island in Western Australia in January 2020.
In 2017, Laeticia Brouwer, 17, died after being mauled by a beast near Wylie Bay.
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