Boy, 16, survives a shark attack after his father repeatedly punched and kicked the five-foot predator (photos)

A 16-year-old boy, Nick Arthur has survived a shark attack off the coast of North Carolina after his father repeatedly punched and kicked the animal as it was biting his son.

Nick was swimming about 25 feet from the beach shore at Cape Hatteras on Thursday when a shark grabbed his thigh. As the boy started screaming, his father Tim Arthur, heard his son and swam to where the boy was.

He then furiously kicked and punched the shark until it finally released its grip and swam away.

The family, have now revealed the horrifying incident in an interview with FOX8.

According to Nick, he didn’t know what was grabbing his leg as the water was filled with blood and sand.

‘The pressure was so intense, I was like: “This is obviously not – this is an animal of some sort,”‘ he said.

‘I tried lifting my leg up out of the water and I said: “Oh my god it’s a five-foot shark attached to my leg.”

The shark finally released Nick when father repeatedly punched the shark on the nose.

‘I don’t think we did anything special but it was enough that it maybe realized there was easier prey out there,’ Tim said with a laugh.

After he got out of the water Nick was rushed to the hospital where doctors used 17 stitches to repair the wounds on his leg and hands. His father said they counted more than 40 teeth marks in total.

‘Even though it’s a small possibility, it’s still a possibility,’ he said. ‘No one thinks it’s going to happen to them until it happens to them.’