Pic shows haunting clue 14ft shark is about to maul surfer and bite leg off

THIS is the chilling picture taken moments before a surfer lost his leg in a horror great white shark attack.

What appeared to be a tiny ripple in the water turned out to be the 14ft beast preparing to attack Tony Begg off Lighthouse Beach, in New South Wales, Australia.

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The haunting snap shows the 44-year-old on the top right corner just metres away from the shark – unaware of the horror that would unfold.

Cops confirmed Tony, an former on-call firefighter, tried battling with the giant animal for half a minute.

“The reports are that a man has tried to fight this shark for 30 seconds and has then swum himself to shore where he has realised he has sustained significant lower leg injuries,” NSW Police Chief Inspector Martin Burke said.

“From what I understand, it was a sustained and prolonged attack.”

Tony was left with life-changing injuries and remains in a critical but stable condition at Newcastle’s John Hunter Hospital, news.com.au reports.

The dad-of two lost one leg after the attack and underwent a second surgery to try and save his other leg.

Tacking Point Surf Lifesaving Club, which manages Lighthouse Beach, announced at around 11.30am on Friday the beach had been closed.

“Please be aware that Lighthouse Beach is currently closed due to a shark attack,” the club wrote on Facebook.

“Non-fatal (attack), thank goodness, but please stay out of the water.”

A teenage girl who witnessed the attack said the man’s foot had been “ripped off” and he was “bleeding everywhere”.

“They were trying to talk to him, he was silent, he was frozen,” she told NBN.

“They tried to tie his leg with the leg rope from the surfboard and some sticks to keep it straight.”

Tony’s family broke their silence on Saturday with a Facebook post written by his brother-in-law, Chris Lenihan.

He said that although his injuries are “extremely serious and life-changing”, doctors are still working to understand the full extent of the damage.

“It is very early stages and the full extent of his injuries are being uncovered,” Chris wrote.

“However, he will require many surgeries and has years of rehabilitation ahead of him.”

The post included a picture taken after Tony was brought ashore, showing his surfboard snapped just above the fins while shards of fibreglass had also been torn away.

Chris added that Tony was lucky that an off-duty emergency doctor was on the beach at the time of the attack to help apply a tourniquet using leg ropes from surfboards.

Chief Inspector Burke also commended the doctor for bravely stepping up to help save the surfer’s life.

The surfboard has been seized by cops.

Tony is the main income earner of his family including his “loving partner” Tracy and their two children.

A GoFundMe to help him with medical bills and the future cost of his traumatic injuries has already raised almost $60,000.

Firefighters from the Fire and Rescue NSW Port Macquarie station offered up thoughts and prayers their former colleague.

Shark biologists have assessed photographs of the bite marks on the surfboard and determined the shark responsible for the attack was likely a great white shark measuring in between 12 and 14ft.

No sharks matching that description have been spotted in nearby waters since the attack, a NSW Department of Primary Industries spokesperson said.

However, three great white sharks were caught on the SMART drumlines in the area on Saturday including one at Lighthouse Beach.

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