A lucky Australian man managed to survive a shark attack by punching and poking the beast in the eye.

His name is Jason Cull and he was swimming off Middleton Beach in Western Australia when he saw a 12-foot long grey shape near him which he believed to be a dolphin.

“Initially I thought it was a dolphin but when it came up and banged straight into me, I realized what it was,” he said, according to Telegraph.co.uk.

Cull, a 37-year-old teacher, punched the shark but it grabbed him by the leg and pulled him underwater. He then found the shark’s eye and poked it.

“I just remember being dragged along backwards. I was trying to feel its gills but I found its eye and I stuck my finger in and that's when it let go,” said Cull.

After he managed to reach the surface, he started shouting to warn other swimmers and began swimming backstroke towards the shore.

“Eventually it took more of an interest in two other swimmers and swam towards them,” he said.

A volunteer at the local surf club, 50-year-old Joanne Lucas, swam towards Cull and got him to shore.

“Thankfully she took me into shore,” he said. “I don’t think I would have made it the rest of the way by myself.”

Although he was lucky enough to get rid of the shark and find help to get him out of the water, his injuries were pretty serious as the shark tore two chunks from Cull's left leg, ripping off half his calf and leaving him with deep lacerations to his knee and thigh. He was airlifted to hospital where he went straight into surgery.

After some attempts to lure the sharks further out to sea proved unsuccessful, all beaches in the area were closed.