Australian beachgoers are on Jaws alert after three shark attacks in separate locations around the country over the past 24 hours.

On Monday a snorkeller suffered 40 puncture wounds after fending off what is thought to have been a bull shark near a boat ramp at the mouth of the Illawarra River, near Wollongong, south of Sydney on the east coast of New South Wales (NSW).

Steven Foggarty, 24, said he saw a dark cloud in the water as he felt a tug on his leg and when he looked down he was bleeding.

“I just saw the blood all over both feet and had a quick look to make sure both legs were there and they were there,'' said Mr Foggarty, as he displayed the scratches on his arm and puncture wounds to his leg.

He added that he instinctively punched the animal, forcing it to let go: “I just turned and started swingin'. I tried my best anyway, I think I got one on him.”

The attack came after two others in separate locations on Sunday – one on the east coast of NSW and one off Tasmania in the south; and just two weeks after a man was taken by a great white off Western Australia, never to be seen again.

On Sunday afternoon Hannah Mighall, 13, was surfing with her cousin Syb Mundy at Binalong Bay on the north eastern coast of Tasmania in southern Australia, when she was bitten by a 16ft white pointer.

Mr Mundy, 33, said the “monster” shark was “easily the length of a car” and described the scene as like something from the shark horror movie Jaws.

Mr Mundy, who was paddling near his teenage cousin, said the giant ocean predator dragged Hannah under the water twice before he was able to reach the scene.

“It took her under the water a couple of times and it was thrashing her around, but she kept her head together,” Mr Mundy told a national radio station.

“Once it let her go she was bleeding pretty bad. There was a lot of blood in the water.”

He has been hailed a hero after punching the shark to free Hannah’s leg from its jaws, saving her life.

Explore World News

• World Agenda

• Iraq News

• US & Americas News

• Europe News

• Middle East News

• Afghanistan News

• Asia News

• Africa News

• Ireland News

Times Recommends

• A track to Shangri-La: Bhutan gets first rail link
• Avatar takings hit $600m in ten days
• Bomb disposal squad is Times’s Team of the Year