Oliver Tokic-Bensley came out about as unscathed as you can after being bitten by a shark. Photo: 9 News
It’s easy to forget the ecosystem lying below the surface of the water when you’re sitting in the lineup. However, sometimes in the moments between chasing waves, a piece of that ecosystem will reach out and remind you. That’s what happened to high school student Oliver Tokic-Bensley, who was sitting on his board off of Middleton Beach, about 50 miles south of Adelaide, when a shark bit him in the foot.
“I felt something sharp,” he told ABC News. “I sort of jumped when it got me and then I kicked my foot away and luckily it didn’t hold onto me.”
Though he had gotten lucky in one sense, he quickly realized that he was not out of the woods, just yet. “I was like ‘Oh shit, it might come back and bite me somewhere else.'” he continued.
The size of the bites led authorities to estimate the shark was 5 to 7 feet long. Photo: ABC News // Oliver Tokic-Bensley
Then he saw a fin rise above the surface – the coloring of which led him to believe the species of shark was a bronze whaler. From there, Tokic-Bensley made the tense paddle back to shore, hoping that the shark didn’t return for a second round.
Upon returning to shore, he was taken to a nearby hospital. There, he found he was lucky a second time, in that the bite did not require stitches. Oliver told ABC that, based on the size of the wound, the shark was likely 5 to 7 feet long.
“We’re not entirely sure [what shark it was] if you look at the bite mark on his ankle it even looks like he even stepped on some rocks or a reef,” Shark Watch SA founder Anton Covino told 891 ABC Adelaide. “There’s no real clear indication that there is a jaw around his ankle … but judging by the teeth marks, we can’t say what shark it is entirely.”
